Don't cut size of airport mall: Franklin Lam
Former Exco member accuses authority of poor decision as planned shopping centre will help meet rising demand for hotel and retail space
A former Executive Council member has lambasted the Airport Authority over its decision to cut the size of a planned shopping centre to be constructed near the proposed third runway.
Franklin Lam Fan-keung, founder of the HKGolden50 think tank, argues that the mall development would serve a large demand for retail and hotel space.
The authority has decided to reserve 30 per cent of the available space for a train depot instead. The depot is part of the plan for the third runway.
Lam has made few public comments since he quit Exco in August after he was found to have sold two flats weeks before the government introduced property cooling measures last year, imposing a 15 per cent stamp duty on non-local and corporate buyers.
His remarks follow a feud between two men from the authority over the matter: Vincent Lo Hong-sui, who tendered his resignation last month as chairman of its infrastructure planning committee, and chairman Marvin Cheung Kin-tung.
Lo, who had been tipped to succeed Cheung, quit after Cheung insisted on building a depot for a driverless train under the mall, which would be built on a site now used as a golf course between Terminal 2 and the AsiaWorld-Expo convention centre.
Lo said the move would reduce the commercial value of the land by billions of dollars.