Police complex will soon be rocking to tourist beat
Thursday, January 9, 2003
hongkong.scmp.com
STELLA LEE
Proposals to turn Central Police Station, Victoria Prison and the former Magistracy into a retail and entertainment complex have been given the green light.
Mr Tung said the departments now occupying the heritage sites would be moved to enable the private sector to convert the compound into a retail, dining, cultural and entertainment area.
The decision was made after the government appointed consultants to assess the feasibility of the project.
A government spokesman declined to elaborate on the plan, saying Secretary for Economic Development and Labour Stephen Ip Shu-kwan would reveal more details later.
A police spokeswoman said the force was planning to leave Central Police Station in 2004/05.
She said a proposed option was to move the officers temporarily to the police headquarters in Wan Chai or build a new station next to the Waterfront police station.
The 139-year-old Central Police Station was Hong Kong's first and is still referred to by police as "the big station".
The former Magistracy, which is thought to have been built as early as 1847, now forms part of the police station.
Victoria Prison, built in 1841, was the first jail. Apart from housing general prisoners, it is used as a detention centre for illegal immigrants.
The prison is designed for 438 inmates but is always overcrowded. It is now holding 685.
A spokesman of the Tourism Board, Simon Clennell, welcomed the redevelopment, saying it would link up with the popular tourist destinations of Lan Kwai Fong, Hollywood Road and SoHo. |
