Technology hub generates more controversy than cash as key element takes peripheral role to profitable Residence Bel-Air
To the government, it is a visionary attempt to put Hong Kong on the information-technology map. To its critics, it is a vast expanse of vacant office space resembling a 1970s university campus more than a high-technology mecca, conspicuously flanked by a very lucrative residential development.
The site that was to be the Silicon Valley of the East, Cyberport, has for years courted scorn as the cyber element took on a peripheral role to the profitable Residence Bel-Air.
As the 94,700 square metres of letable office space and 27,000 square metre retail and entertainment arcade opened for business, the development seemed to attract more doubters and critics than rent-paying tenants.
Until recently, exactly how the cyber side of the project could translate into profits was hidden in the closed books of the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company.
The accounts have within the past few weeks been made available to the public, shedding some light on the income, outlays and opportunity cost involved in attempting to turn a large chunk of the Pokfulam coast into a technology park.
From the outset, Cyberport was a controversial project. Unveiled as a flagship project by the technology-obsessed Tung administration in March 1999 , the development was to give Hong Kong a technology niche in the fast-moving information age, attracting more than 100 small and medium-sized start-ups and creating up to 12,000 jobs.