The making of Hong Kong Disneyland is a classic tale of bad governance, a tragic case of environmental trade-offs and a lamentable case of cultural dilution. A lack of transparency during the negotiation stage, lack of accountability and monitoring during construction and, above all, the failure to uphold environmental laws, principles and corporate responsibility have left a legacy of environmental degradation and bureaucratic incompetence.
Fast-tracking a four-month Environmental Impact Assessment to get approval for site selection set a bad precedent. Reclamation and dredging destroyed coastlines, coral, sea walls and fish spawning grounds - not to mention the Tang dynasty antiques found on the seabed of Penny's Bay, which was reclaimed for the park.
A failure to detect 30,000 cubic metres of dioxin in the soil of the disused shipyard used to build Disney's man-made lake landed taxpayers with a $450 million clean-up bill. The shipyard owner, meanwhile, pocketed $1.5 billion for selling off the land, with no liability demanded.
The illegal removal of rocks from the Tung Chung River damaged the natural habitat. The rock remover was penalised, but not the project developer and procurer - namely the contractors, the government and Disney. The refusal to use low-smoke, low-pollution technology for fireworks, to ease air pollution concerns, showed disrespect for public opinion and ignored corporate social responsibility. The government provided concessions for land, investment, low-interest loans, management fees and the souvenir franchise to the Walt Disney Company, making a mockery of its own non-intervention policy - designed to maintain a level playing field for business and investments.
The government, as regulator and an investor, has a clear conflict of interest on the board of the Hong Kong International Theme Park joint venture company.
Should officials alone be appointed to the board? Why have independent monitors, such as legislators, not been appointed? As $2.24 billion of public money was invested in the park, why were board meeting minutes not released? Where was the transparency?