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SCMP Reporter

THE Democratic Party's attempt to freeze ferry fares was defeated by four votes, allowing Hong Kong Ferry to instigate a 13.96 per cent increase.

  A motion from Lee Wing-tat was defeated by 31 to 27, after a last-minute change of mind by three Federation of Trade Unions legislators.

  Cheng Yiu-tong, the federation's chairman, said he changed his mind after hearing about the plight of ferry workers in the past few days.

  These employees were worried they would lose their jobs if the company cut its services as a result of a fares freeze, he said.

  'I think we need to strike a balance between the interests of ferry passengers and the workers,' Mr Cheng said.

  The move was criticised by Democratic Party legislators who accused Mr Cheng and his colleagues of not honouring their election pledges.

  Democrat Albert Chan Wai-yip said he deplored the U-turn by pro-China unionists. They should stick to their election pledges by blocking fare increases for public utilities, he said.

  'I wonder how they could abandon their platform so easily,' Mr Chan added.

  Mr Lee said legislators should not moved by empty threats from the ferry company.

  He said Hong Kong Ferry was still making huge profits despite deficits in its ferry business, and it should not be allowed to raise fares given the poor service.

  'Residents - especially from offshore islands - have been complaining about ferry services and the company has made no moves in the past few years to improve them,' Mr Lee said.

  He added that the right for the company to develop its pier in Central could generate up to $1 billion profit in the next few years and this could turn the company's accounts from red to black for many years.

  'With this huge revenue, the company should keep fares stable,' Mr Lee said.

  The Democratic Party's argument was rejected by independents as well as the Liberal Party.

  They said it was important to allow public utilities to have a reasonable rate of return on their investment or else they would not have an incentive to improve services.

  Haider Barma, Secretary for Transport, criticised the Democrats' stance as short-sighted and a recipe for disaster.

  'Providing public transport is not a charity. If Legco vetoed a fare increase application for a franchised transport operator who is losing money, this would send out a very damaging signal,' he said.

  'Which company would then be prepared to invest and come out to run transport services?'   The ferry company would still suffer a substantial loss even if the fare increases were approved, Mr Barma said.

  A motion from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong which sought to lower the increase to 12.3 per cent was defeated by a vote of 42 to 14.

  The company welcomed the result and pledged to study opinions expressed by legislators and to improve services.



Democrats' ferry fares freeze defeated