Confusing state of affairs clouds Nansha's future development

REMEMBER NANSHA? The southern Guangzhou island was the subject of a co-operative agreement signed in July between the Hong Kong and Guangdong governments, which pledged to discuss Nansha's 'overall direction and substantive [development] plans'. The announcement was controversial because of Hong Kong tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung's involvement in Nansha, where he has invested HK$2.5 billion and has plans to commit another HK$1.3 billion. One of his higher profile projects there is the joint-venture Nansha Information Technology (IT) Park, which is being developed in partnership with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the Guangzhou municipal government. As Mr Fok played an instrumental role in the mid-1980s bailout of Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's financially troubled family shipping company, Orient Overseas Container Line, sceptics wondered if the agreement constituted some sort of payback for Mr Fok. Speaking off-the-record, senior Hong Kong government officials moved quickly to disperse the whiff of scandal by saying that Guangdong had insisted on the agreement and that they wished nothing more than for the initiative to be shelved and forgotten. HKUST officials and the Fok family also denied having pressed either the Hong Kong or Guangdong governments to implement the deal. It was a rather odd state of affairs for two reasons. First, Hong Kong officials were basically saying that they entered into a co-operative agreement they had no intention of honouring - which is unlikely to endear them to their Guangdong counterparts. Second, institutions and individuals with a vested interest in Nansha said they had been unaware that a cross-border agreement ostensibly aimed at promoting that very objective was in the works. The situation seems stranger still if one considers what has happened in the months since the agreement was signed. In early August, a senior Hong Kong Housing Authority official paid an unpublicised - and unofficial - visit to Nansha. Then last month it emerged that the Hong Kong Airport Authority was considering the establishment of a logistics centre on the island, which would transfer cargo to Chek Lap Kok by a high-speed ferry. The fact that the airport authority was considering such a service surfaced after it asked the Legislative Council about the possibility of revising its charter, which restricts its operations to Chek Lap Kok. The authority has since given a presentation about its vision for Nansha. But the project was not mentioned in the authority's literature, including its Airport Master Plan 2020. Finally, on Friday Victor Lo Chung-wing, chairman of the government-funded Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks (HKSTP), signed a vague agreement with Guangzhou's Foreign Trade and Economic Co-operation Bureau to 'establish a mechanism to facilitate regular meetings, consultation and reciprocal visits to map out long-term direction for fostering developments'. When asked if this agreement had anything to do with Hong Kong and Guangdong's earlier Nansha accord, Mr Lo's response was categorical. 'It has nothing to do with Nansha,' he said. However, the next day Mr Lo, who is also chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, led a federation delegation to - no prizes for guessing - Nansha. Nor did Mr Lo rule out future collaborative ventures with 'organisations under the Guangzhou government' including, he said, Nansha IT Park. HKUST officials say they recently held 'positive and encouraging' exploratory talks with HKSTP about Nansha IT Park, which can offer firms space for manufacturing and other operations as they outgrow HKSTP's smaller facilities in Hong Kong. Confused? You should be. Basically, HKSTP says it has not yet talked with the Guangzhou government about co-operative possibilities at Nansha but has had discussions on precisely that subject with HKUST. Add to this the interest Hong Kong housing and airport officials have shown in Nansha and one is left with the distinct impression that the Hong Kong Government is more keen on Nansha than it professed to be after the July co-operative deal. It is kind of like watching a group of married men at a singles bar. They all want to flirt with the attractive and available young women but they do not want to be seen doing it. The irony is that there may be a good reason or two for a government body to do something on Nansha. Both the airport authority and HKSTP think co-operative ventures there could prove fruitful. Unfortunately, the perceived conflict of interest that hung over the July co-operative agreement is also likely to taint any project undertaken by a Hong Kong government body on Nansha, no matter how worthy. Unless, that is, Mr Tung decides not to seek a second term.