Pop-up Hong Kong shopping mall near border with mainland China would run for three years

A proposed pop-up shopping complex near the border with Shenzhen would operate for just three years before making way for a permanent mall, it emerged yesterday.

The scheme was revealed in separate applications to the Town Planning Board from the non-profit body that would run the temporary mall and the landlord for the change of use of the former car park site in San Tin, northwestern New Territories.

The mall has been touted as a way to relieve pressure on towns in the northern New Territories, which are coping with a massive influx of mainland shoppers and traders buying goods for resale over the border. The idea was announced last year and gained traction amid rowdy protests against so-called parallel traders earlier this year. The Shenzhen government has since tried to address the problem by limiting cross-border visits by residents.

The man behind the scheme is lawmaker Wong Ting-kwong, who represents the import and export sector. He has secured land co-owned by property giants Henderson and Sun Hung Kai.

A group calling itself Non-profit Making Shopping Centre Foundation, set up to run the project, has applied to convert a 39,722 square metre area into temporary shopping facilities for three years.

A parallel application by Topcycle Development, a joint venture of the two landlords, has applied to build a permanent mall on a 39,705 square metre site with slightly different boundaries.