The study of public assessment and impacts of different modes of management of wet market in housing estates in Hong Kong

Abstract

Hong Kong Housing Authority, being one of the most important housing management players of the society, adopted outsourcing practice for decades in providing service for their tenants of public housing estate, it extended to their wet market management since late 1980s. The authority had a stance in continuing the outsourcing model in their new established wet markets, named Single Operating model, due to the prominent advantages brought by the private sector, whereas limited studies addressed the impact of it extensively. However, a number of news indicated the defects of this management model, i.e. high rent of stalls, high price of commodities and else, causing discontents between stakeholders happened from time to time. This dissertation, therefore, shed light on this unaddressed issue. Result of this dissertation indicated that although the Hong Kong Housing Authority created a good "Hardware" of wet markets and contributed to the change of people's negative image about wet market, it failed to answer the fundamental expectation regarding the wet market of people, such as people would like to purchase a variety of goods at a lower price. Hong Kong Housing Authority lost its focus in providing a "Good Wet Market". Besides, the reactive position of the authority caused the stall operators to suffer in this outsourcing model. And the high price of rent also contributed to the high price of commodities, causing the performance of Single Operator Market to be further undermined. Owing the stance regarding the continuation of the Single Operating model by the authority being unchanged, this dissertation pragmatically suggested recommendations to improvise the current policy in addressing the major defects based on the survey result of this dissertation. It hoped to provide insight for the authority in resolving the major critics and smoothening the future practice.