The overhaul of the market is the first in a 10-year modernization program, which the government announced in 2018 with HK$2 billion being earmarked for improving facilities at public markets under the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.

The four-story market will see multiple modernized facilities and management arrangements where stalls can sell fresh meat, chilled pork, chilled poultry, fish, siu mei and lo mei, cooked food, fruits, vegetables, as well as other dry and wet goods.

The interior has been replanned and stalls will be bigger with a separate air-conditioned storage room being provided in a public market for the first time, allowing slaughtered pigs delivered early in the morning to be stored.

Stalls will also be better categorized by type of business to facilitate the daily routines of tenants and shoppers.

Air-conditioning and wider passageways, two new accessible lifts and two goods lifts make for easier operations.

Public seating, a baby care room and a breastfeeding room will also be provided, with more toilets and enhanced barrier-free facilities.

There will also be a recycling store under the Green@Community network and new facilities designated for recycling of discarded foam boxes.

The market offers 142 stalls, with previous tenants who want to continue in the reworked facility joining the restricted auction on Monday. The 93 stalls that remain after the restricted auction will be put up for open auctions next Thursday at the Youth Square in Chai Wan.

Base prices for the stalls' monthly rents will depend on size and location.

Tenancies take effect from March 1 to facilitate decoration and other preparatory works by tenants, and rents for that month will be adjusted based on the date the market opens, which will be announced in due course.

A FEHD spokesman said those who are ordinarily resident in Hong Kong and 18 or above are welcome to bid at the open auction.

"To allow more people to bid for the stalls and increase customer choices by enhancing the diversity in terms of the variety of stalls, any person shall only be allowed to bid for one stall," he added.

Those who are interested can check out the terms and conditions at www.fehd.gov.hk/english/pleasant-environment/tidy-market/open-auction-coming.html, with details of qualifications of the bidders listed.