I refer to the article by Kevin Sinclair headlined, 'Mayor of Chek Lap Kok' (Sunday Morning Post, December 20).
The article pointed out that there were fewer passengers than predicted and therefore fewer customers for the airport shops some of which were losing a lot of money. The choice for Airport Authority Chief Executive Billy Lam 'was stark: allow retailers to go bust or fold up their tents and leave Chek Lap Kok's mall-like spaces vacant, or to slash rents'.
In considering what Mr Lam might do for retailers in Chek Lap Kok, we should remember the criteria used by the Airport Authority for awarding the retail concessions in the first place. In a competitive tender, bids were made by a number of experienced operators of travel retail based on careful assessments of the prospects for business at the new airport. The authority chose to ignore the qualifications and understanding of these operators and made price its chief consideration.
Under the terms and conditions of the tender, the Airport Authority made it very clear to prospective tenants that it gave no guarantees on passenger numbers.
Nonetheless, by cutting the concession fees, it is now choosing to underwrite the business risk undertaken by the successful tenderers.
The end effect will be to penalise those whose bids were more sensible in the first place. In my view, this goes against the spirit (if not also the letter) of the tender process.