The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) announced today (February 2) that in order to put vacant stalls in public markets to more effective use and to provide job opportunities for members of the public, open auctions for a total of 223 vacant stalls in 32 public markets will be held in early February.

     The retail commodities allowed for sale in these stalls cover non-food related dry or wet goods, food-related dry or wet goods, chilled meat/frozen meat, fresh meat, fish, fruits, light refreshment, cooked food, newspaper, siu mei, lo mei and tradesman/service trade, etc. The tenancy agreement is a three-year fixed term from July 1, with no right of renewal upon expiry of the tenancy agreement. Depending on the sizes and locations of the individual stalls, the upset prices of the monthly rent of the stalls range from $360 to $28,500. 25 of the stalls are located at blocks 1 to 3 of Tung Chau Street Temporary Market, currently used as a cloth market. The upset prices of the stalls range from $2,360 to $3,700, with retails commodities allowed for sale including non-food related dry goods such as cloth/silk/lace, clothing, clothing accessories, curtains, blankets and cotton quilts.


     A spokesman for the FEHD said, "Bidders for the market stalls must be at least 18 years old and ordinarily reside in Hong Kong. To allow more people to bid for the stalls and increase customer choices by enhancing the diversity in terms of the variety of stalls, there will be a restriction on the number of stalls to be rented in the same market by a single tenant. Any person who is currently a stall tenant is not allowed to bid in the first round of auction for any stall in the same market, but will only be allowed to bid for one stall in the second round of auction, while no existing tenant under the new three-year fixed term tenancy scheme (i.e. those persons who became the stall tenant through the market open auction in August and December 2022) shall be allowed to bid for a stall in the same market in any event."
 
The dates and venues of the auctions and the number of stalls are as follows:

Kowloon
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Auction date: February 7 (Tuesday)
Auction venue: Youth Square at 238 Chai Wan Road, Chai Wan, Hong Kong
Number of stalls: 64

Hong Kong Island and Islands District
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Auction date: February 8 (Wednesday)
Auction venue: Youth Square at 238 Chai Wan Road, Chai Wan, Hong Kong
Number of stalls: 70

New Territories
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Auction date: February 9 (Thursday)
Auction venue: Youth Square at 238 Chai Wan Road, Chai Wan, Hong Kong
Number of stalls: 89

     Limited seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The admission tickets will be issued 30 minutes prior to the commencement of each auction. Persons who want to attend the auctions must wait at the waiting area of the auction venue and produce their Hong Kong identity card or passport for registration. The registered person will then be provided with an admission ticket for the auction. In addition, eligible bidders after verification will be issued with a bidding paddle for the auction. The FEHD has also invited representatives of the Police, the Independent Commission Against Corruption and the Competition Commission to monitor the auctions at the auction venues, in order to ensure that the open auctions are conducted in an orderly and fair manner.

      Details of the open auctions as well as of the public market stalls concerned have been uploaded to the FEHD website (www.fehd.gov.hk/english/pleasant_environment/tidy_market/open_auction_coming.html). Bidders interested in the auctions may visit the department's website or contact the respective District Environmental Hygiene Office.

Ends/Thursday, February 2, 2023
Issued at HKT 11:30

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