Moves to turn a public car park inside tycoon Li Ka-shing's corporate headquarters into a supermarket have sparked fears that the government could be preparing the groundwork to slash the amount of open public space in Central District.
Hutchison Whampoa - which manages the 62-storey Cheung Kong Center - want to convert 78 of 800 public car parking spaces inside the building into a supermarket under existing zoning conditions which allow for a mixture of public and commercial uses. They say the car park is underused.
However, the government opposes the move because it wants to rezone the area around the Queen's Road skyscraper - which includes a public park - to make it a purely commercial area, with restrictions.
These restrictions would safeguard the public park, but activists fear the zoning changes form part of a wider government vision to commercialise the area.
They are worried that a yet-to-be passed government plan to demolish the West Wing of the Central Government Offices on Government Hill to make way for commercial development may be extended to cover the park.
Cheng Lai-king, a Democratic Party councillor in Central and Western District, said: 'The park is for public use. I can't imagine what will happen to the park if the Planning Department gets its way and turns the entire site into a commercial zone.'
