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My Take
Opinion
Alex Lo
Alex Lo

My Take | Mickey Mouse is laughing all the way to the bank

Thanks to Legco, we now know Disney’s taking taxpayers for a ride – to the tune of at least HK$1 billion that’s going straight into the pockets of the US parent company

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Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Executive Vice President and Managing Director Samuel Lau Wing-kee, with Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So Kam-leung announced plans for the HK$11 billion resort expansion last week. Photo: David Wong
Alex Loin Toronto

No one should think regular Legislative Council meetings are a waste of time. Now that we have got rid of a couple of noisy localists with their disruptions, we get to hear some real outrages against the government.

You have already heard about the whopping HK$5.8 billion the government needs to pay to improve Disneyland in a six-year project. But it gets better, or rather worse. Thanks to an innocuous question from Yiu Si-wing, a lawmaker for the tourism sector, commerce minister Greg So Kam-leung revealed to Legco more details about how the total cost of HK$10.9 billion estimated for the Disneyland facelift would be spent.
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Apparently, about 10 per cent of the total, that’s more than HK$1 billion, will be paid to the Walt Disney Company in the US for its “designs and technical support” for the new rides and features.

Did I detect a slight embarrassment in So’s voice when he disclosed the number in the Legco chamber? He only coughed up the figure after being pressed repeatedly if any money would end up flowing back to the US.

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So stressed that 90 per cent of the HK$10.9 billion would be spent within the local economy. But it’s still hard to get over the other 10 per cent going straight into the pockets of Disney.

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