Government buying back Link malls would be 'stupid and unwise', Carrie Lam says
Local | 22 Dec 2017 12:21 pm
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has strongly rejected the idea of the government buying back the malls and markets handed over to the Link REIT, saying that would be "very stupid and unwise", RTHK reported.
Despite claims the trust is failing to take into account the needs of low-income residents, the Hong Kong leader said in an interview with the public broadcaster there is little the government can do to curb commercial practices.
Link REIT confirmed it is selling another 17 of its shopping complexes in a HK$23 billion deal last month.
Lam said she did have a lot of reservations back when the government decided to privatize a large number of its malls, wet markets and car parks through the Link REIT in 2005. But she said it's too late now to try to reverse the deal.
"This would be an unwise and a very stupid thing to do. Back then, I had a lot of reservations about this decision. In fact I was working overseas and not in Hong Kong at the time. But there’s no turning back once a commercial decision is made," she said.
"If the government announces in a high-profile manner that it will buy the Link back, I think the prices of the assets will go up drastically. It will be very damaging to the public coffers, and will do the wider society no good.”
The trust has been accused of forcing out small retailers by increasing rents. But Lam said she's never claimed to be able to do anything to tackle the concerns.
"I’d say I feel my hands are rather tied. It’s because we’re talking about commercial behavior. When I was the Chief Secretary, I had asked the Lands Department not to relax any terms in the land leases that could still restrain it. Any terms that still require the Link to ask for any sort of permissions – keep them," she said.
"Otherwise you’d be helping a tyrant to do evil. You’d be helping it to do something unpopular.”
But that said, the Hong Kong leader admitted there is not much the government can do in terms of regulating the REIT through land leases.
Lam said what the administration can do, is to start building its own wet markets and shops at public housing estates, the public broadcaster reported.
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