The government said yesterday that its new central library project would not include a carpark, adding that it was now aiming to invite construction bids for the project next year.
The government decided in 2020 to redevelop the long-abandoned Hotel Estoril near Praça do Tap Seac into the city’s new central library. However, the government has still to come up with an exact schedule as to when the project will get off the ground.
Culture Affairs Bureau (IC) officials made the remarks about their current progress in the project’s planning phase during a meeting with members of the Central District Community Service Consultative Council yesterday.
The central library is currently housed in a listed building in Praça do Tap Seac, just across the square from the old Hotel Estoril.
Briefing reporters after yesterday’s closed-door meeting, Au Weng Hei, a member of the government-appointed council, quoted the IC officials as saying that the bureau was still assessing the final construction design of the new central library, because of which the bureau had still been unable to come up with a more exact budget for its construction.
According to Au, the IC officials underlined that the bureau was now aiming to invite construction bids for the project next year and then to decide the winning bidder.
Au quoted the officials as saying that the basement of the new central library would not be a carpark, adding that it would instead be used for mechanical rooms and storerooms.
According to Au, the officials said that the bureau had decided not to include a carpark in the new central library because the size of the basement was “not big”. Consequently, the officials said that converting the basement into a carpark would require a relatively high cost. The officials noted that there is already a public carpark nearby.
The IC officials also said that the new central library would feature a café, an area for the recommendation of new books, book collection areas for children and teenagers, cooking facilities, exhibition spaces, and workrooms for wood work, according to Au.
