A row has broken out over why mega-rich telecoms giant PCCW has been allowed to pay just HK$100-a-year in rent for a recreation club - for the exclusive use of its staff - on prime real estate in Causeway Bay for three decades.
Lawmakers are angry over why a private firm can be granted such favourable terms on a prime site.
The PCCW Recreation Club in Caroline Hill Road, boasts a mini-soccer pitch and a two-storey concrete structure containing a gym, restaurant, lounge and a barbecue site.
PCCW said the special leasing arrangement can be traced back to the British colonial era when the city's biggest telecoms company was known as Cable and Wireless.
Land Registry documents dated from 1981 show that the club, opposite the Po Leung Kuk on Caroline Hill Road, has been occupied by PCCW for at least 30 years.
The government had a plan to reclaim the site for redevelopment, but it has not been implemented.
Yesterday afternoon, a banner hoisted next to the outdoor soccer pitch declares that the staff organisation is celebrating its 60th anniversary. If one is closely associated with a PCCW employee, it costs HK$80 a year to book the club's facilities, which include a mahjong room, and table tennis and snooker facilities.