Link's high rents hurting retailers, lawmakers say
Shopping-centre owner The Link Reit came under fire in the Legislative Council yesterday over its hefty rent rises amid the financial crisis.
Several lawmakers urged the government to buy back part or all of the shares in the listed real-estate investment trust, but the Transport and Housing Bureau showed no intention of doing so.
The Link's chief executive, Ian Robins, told lawmakers the company's short-term strategy was to 'drive sales revenue rather than cut rates' at its properties.
'Of course, we realise that it is a difficult time ... We will consider [offering assistance in] individual cases if they need help,' he said.
Lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan of the Confederation of Trade Unions said high rents imposed by The Link had raised retail prices at public housing estates and forced many small retailers out of business.
'Shopping centres and wet markets in the public housing estates are supposed to serve the grass-roots class. But now the people living in the poorest areas of the city have to afford the highest prices,' he said.
Mr Lee and several other lawmakers - including Lee Wing-tat of the Democratic Party, and Alan Leong Kah-kit and Ronny Tong Ka-wah of the Civic Party - proposed that the government buy back The Link's shares to gain a bigger say on rents.
'The Housing Authority should purchase at least 25 per cent of The Link's shares,' Lee Wing-tat said.
Mr Tong believed a 100 per cent buy-back of the shares was necessary. 'The government is also a major shareholder of other companies, like the MTR, but it does not take advantage of its position to do something to benefit the citizens,' he said.
The Link was set up in 2005 when the Housing Authority privatised 180 shopping centres, wet markets and car parks, and injected them into a real-estate investment trust.
Yau Shing-mu, undersecretary for transport and housing, said: 'So far, we still believe the decision on the privatisation was right. We have reflected the tenants' messages to The Link and we believe they are well aware of the market situation.'
The legislature will today discuss the motion proposed by lawmakers to buy back The Link's shares.
More than 100 people from the Federation of Public Housing Estates, the Link Watch and other groups protested outside the Legislative Council building yesterday, calling for a rent cut from The Link, and for government action.
