Consultant's study into Hongkong Post was abandoned
A study that the government commissioned from a "reputable international consultancy firm" in 2008 to identify possible shake-up measures for struggling Hongkong Post was never finished, the South China Morning Post has learned.
A study that the government commissioned from a "reputable international consultancy firm" in 2008 to identify possible shake-up measures for struggling Hongkong Post was never finished, the has learned.
It comes a month after Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah announced in his budget speech that the administration would review the business operations of the 174-year-old department, which has suffered financial losses in the past three years.
The government postal service, which has been run as a trading fund since 1995, has been facing tough challenges from a declining demand for mail services in the digital age and competition from the private sector.
In 2008, Hongkong Post, with the Efficiency Unit, appointed the consultancy firm to research its market position in relation to the global postal sector.
In his annual report that year, then postmaster general Tam Wing-pong wrote that the study aimed to "identify our strengths and weaknesses and throw some light on what alternatives are available to HKP … to overcome its inherent limitations, meet the challenges, survive the competition, and sustain efficient and affordable services".
The study ran for about a year, yet no report has been published.
A Hongkong Post spokeswoman told the that the consultancy firm had failed to meet the required standards and the research was left unfinished.
"The performance ... did not meet our requirements. There was no report because the study did not come up with anything that we could use," she said.
The department declined to reveal the name of the company, the amount of public money spent on the study and would not say whether the government had received any compensation, saying legal issues were involved.
Tam said he did not know how the study ended up because he had retired soon after it began.
People Power lawmaker Albert Chan Wai-yip said he wanted an explanation. "Could it be that the government refused the report because it didn't like the consultancy's conclusions?"
