Rent-row tower to be sold, says official
The government has revealed a plan to sell the Trade and Industry Department Tower in Mong Kok by 2013 after the Audit Commission criticised it for missing out on rental revenue.
Government Property Administrator Keith Kwok Ka-keung told the Legislative Council's public accounts committee hearing on the audit report yesterday there were no plans to convert the lower floors of the tower into a shopping arcade because it intended to sell the building.
The rental income received during the next five years would not cover the conversion costs, he added.
The Trade and Industry Department would be relocated to the new government office complex to be built in Kai Tak, which was expected to be completed in 2013 or 2014, Mr Kwok said.
Citing preliminary analysis by the Government Property Agency, the administrator said the government would lose HK$8.5 million over five years if the floors were to be let out as a shopping mall, as suggested in the audit report.
But Mr Kwok said: 'We think it is better to sell the whole building than to convert part into commercial use.'
Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah announced in his budget speech in February that the government might move departments to Kai Tak and Tseung Kwan O, freeing three prime properties in Wan Chai.
