The Government has no plan to downsize the Tung Choi Street hawker-permitted area, Secretary for Food & Health Dr York Chow says, adding results of a review of  hawker-licensing policy will be ready in the middle of the year.

The Tung Choi Street hawker-permitted area, commonly known as "Women's Street", has 1,052 fixed-pitch stalls, with 329 vacant. Under the existing policy, a hawker licence holder can be allocated only one stall to ensure that each hawker's business operating area is equal.

Dr Chow told lawmakers today leasing the vacant stalls to hawkers operating adjacent stalls through short-term tenancies may give rise to grievances from the traders over the overall arrangement of stall allocation, and other hawkers may demand their stall area be extended, also.

As shop owners in the neighbourhood may also have reservations over the de facto extension of the hawkers' stall area, the Food & Environmental Hygiene Department has no plan to trim the area.

Dr Chow said regular talks with trader representatives will continue to explore ways to upgrade the hawker-permitted area's management. The hawker-licensing policy review will also explore the efficient use of vacant fixed-pitch stalls, he added.

Last year saw 568 prosecutions for extending the business area beyond the stall boundary and causing public obstruction in the Tung Choi Street hawker-permitted area, and two batches of goods hawkers left behind were seized. No illegal hawking was found.

Customs cracked down on 146 cases involving stalls selling pirated goods on this street, seizing 29,167 items worth $1.64 million and arresting 47 people.