February 03, 2005

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Collusion illusions

Hong Kong has a new word of the year: collusion. In a canny strategy to deflect attention from his Government's poor record, Tung Che-hwa has instead focussed everyone's attention on the too-close links between big business and Government instead. A masterstroke!

Yesterday Legco was presnted with a series of letters between the Government and PCCW over the Cyberport development debacle. They all point to the same conclusion: PCCW was given a wink and a nod that its residential development project would be dressed up in high-tech clothes and have full Government support. The SCMP reports a top public servant involved in the project, former secretary for information technology and broadcasting Kwong Ki-chi, sent a letter on Jan 26, 1999 to PCCW chief Richard Li asking a series of probing questions. These questions include asking why there was no need for open tender, why the Telegraph Bay site, why there was a residential component to the project and why Cyberport and IT were chosen in the first place. Mr. Li promptly replied within a week, but without answering any of these questions. Remarkably only one week later the very same Mr. Kwong wrote ot Mr. Li saying "The government fully endorses the proposed development of the Cyberport." What happened?

Mr Tung, who discussed collusion between the government and business in his policy address last month, travelled to Israel on January 31, 1999, on a three-day information technology fact-finding mission. He was accompanied by a number of business leaders, including Richard Li.
What a co-incidence! There is another way to tell how far out of control things are getting. Sir Gordon Wu, chairman of Hopewell Holdings, is in both the SCMP (reg req'd, try this) and The Standard saying he was a victim of, wait for it, collusion! He doesn't think it is fair that developments such as Cyberport and Cultureport get Government backing while his proposed mega development in Wan Chai has had 20 years of trouble with the Planning Department. He says it is not "a level playing field". He's right. But not in the way he thinks.

posted by Simon on 02.03.05 at 01:32 PM in the




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Cyberport, Collusion, And Tien Family
Excerpt: Yesterday's SCMP had the latest commentary from James Tien Pei-chun on Cyberport. Mr Tien said the project, along with the Disneyland theme park, was meant to boost confidence after the Asian financial crisis. "In hindsight, the Cyberport was probably a
Weblog: Daai Tou Laam Diary
Tracked: February 8, 2005 11:02 AM


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