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Property chief hopes to sell Mong Kok tower Selling the Trade and Industry Department Tower
in Mong Kok rather than renting part out would result in a better deal for
the government, property administrator Keith Kwok Ka-keung said.
Kwok told lawmakers yesterday the tower should be sold in five years,
with the government gaining the highest return from the sale instead of
renting part of it for commercial purposes.
The property chief was appearing at the public hearing of the
Legislative Council's Public Accounts Committee on use of government
property. The hearing came on the heels of the Audit Commission's
criticism that the Government Property Agency has missed a money-raising
opportunity through the renting out of the tower's lower floors to
maximize returns.
"If we need to relocate government offices from there and to
transform the area into a shopping arcade, we need to spend an extra
HK$8.5 million," Kwok said, adding that since the trade department
will move to the Kai Tak government complex in 2013, it would be more cost
effective to sell the whole building by then instead of renting part of it
now.
Director of Audit Benjamin Tang Kwok-bun argued that Queensway Plaza in
Admiralty is a good example of how well a government building can be run.
"Queensway Plaza is similar to the Mong Kok tower as there is also a
footbridge linking the building with others," he said. Kwok
explained, however, that the tower was used by government offices when
bought in 1990 while Queensway Plaza was designed as a shopping arcade. 2008-04-26 |
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