The new Central Library, to be built on the site of the former Hotel Estoril at Tap Seac, will have no public parking lot, representatives from the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) said late last week during the fifth ordinary plenary meeting of the Consultative Committee for Cultural Development.
The topic was on the agenda at the meeting presided over by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Else Ao Ieong, held Friday.
IC representatives presented the new Central Library’s final design works to the Committee members, noting the final decision of not having a parking lot in the basement level was due to “existing limitations on the land plot.”
According to IC, “It would be very difficult, in technical terms, to build a public parking lot that complies with current standards and norms, while, on the other hand, and in addition to not being able to offer a reasonable number of parking spaces, some spaces [initially thought] for the library’s functions need to give away [to other purposes] or cannot be used [as expected], which has an impact on the overall layout of functions and circulation.”
The IC added that after evaluation, the government considered that the need for the parking lot is secondary to the cultural space and decided to scrap the parking lot from the final project.
