Advertisement

Standard Chartered report stresses need for new airport

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0

STANDARD Chartered Bank has weighed into the debate over Hongkong's new airport in its latest Hongkong Economic Indicators report.

Headed ''Hongkong's New Airport Is An Important Investment in the Future of Hongkong and China'', the report reads like a lecture to the Chinese Government on why it should pull out all the stops and let the Chek Lap Kok development go ahead.

''In view of the role which Hongkong has played, and needs to continue to play, in facilitating China to open to the outside world and to develop its market economy, it is essential that Hongkong's infrastructure does not stagnate,'' it says.

''It is the future of Hongkong's airport which has, regrettably for Hongkong and China, come to be caught up in Sino-British negotiations over financing and other matters.

''Yet this above all needs to be resolved urgently if China and Hongkong are not to forfeit some of the mutual benefits which the two are set to reap in the latter part of this decade and on to the next.'' Noting that Kai Tak airport has been an extremely profitable investment for the Hongkong Government, the report says it generated an after-tax return on net assets in 1991 of 29 per cent.

''Construction of Hongkong's new airport should also prove not only to be another profitable investment for the hard-earned monies of Hongkong citizens, but also an important investment in the future of both Hongkong and China,'' the report says.

Advertisement