Renewed calls by the local councillor and The Independent for traders to receive compensation for the much-delayed Chinatown Mall makeover have been rebuffed by City Hall.
This paper contacted the Lord Mayor’s office on Monday, asking whether the administration would reconsider compensation after council first reopened a large section of the mall on December 18, only to close it again at the beginning of January. As of Monday, the site was about as public-unfriendly as it has ever been since construction began in the first half of last year. The project is now expected to be at least six months over its original completion date.
And councillor for Central Ward David Hinchliffe weighed in: “The Lord Mayor should offer some form of tangible compensation for all mall traders for this delay.
“These people have done it tough and the cruellest blow is to be told they can start work again in December only to be presented with even more obstacles in January.
“If Campbell [Lord Mayor Campbell Newman] can’t say ‘sorry’ to traders and residents, then I am prepared to do that on behalf of council. I am sorry that this Newman administration has taken so much time on this project and has decided not to compensate traders or apologise to traders and residents for the inconvenience.”
Economic Development chair Jane Prentice said of this paper’s request for compensation: “No. We are providing local traders with an $8 million upgrade of Chinatown mall without requiring them to make any contributions to the project.”
Cr Prentice did apologise to local traders for opening up much of the mall in December, only to close it again.
“We sympathise with local traders and thank them for their patience. Chinatown Mall is one of the oldest areas in Brisbane with numerous unmapped or poorly mapped services including public and private storm water drainage and sewer mains and connections.
“This has caused a plethora of problems including having to find these services and then repair and relocate many of them. This was only made more difficult by the hard rock (Brisbane Tuff) that workers had to try and smash through. Then there was the decision by Energex and gas providers to upgrade their infrastructure while we were down there.”
Asked what were the chances of late December being repeated come Chinese New Year – with the barricades coming down for the festivities but then going back up again – Cr Prentice said only: “Although it will be tight, the mall will be open and ready for Chinese New Year celebrations."
Cr Hinchliffe said: “The February 14 deadline is absurd. It was supposed to be finished in August last year. “The very least he [Lord Mayor Campbell Newman] should do is to apologise in person to traders and residents for the incredible delays, broken promises, noise and disruption.”
Above: The mall on Monday, looking west to the grand arch that is still only just over half cladded. The bottom half of the redevelopment remains a no-go zone for the public.
