Bosses at Ocean Park must pay for mess
- Time has come for a senior management overhaul at Hong Kong theme park, which is billions of dollars in debt and now expects the government to bail it out
To be sure, the violent protests have caused a significant drop in visitor numbers, a majority of whom are mainland tourists. But the theme park has been losing money since 2015.
The real trouble, though, is not the recurrent annual losses, but the HK$2.3 billion the park owes in commercial loans, and another HK$3.67 billion in debt to the government.
Both sets of loan are due within the next two years while it has just HK$400 million in the bank.
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Without the government bailout, as New People’s Party legislator Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee observed during a grilling session in the legislature, the park would go under.
How did they end up owing so much money? Apparently, a water park, whose opening was postponed from 2017 to this year, was more than a billion dollars over budget. But we have yet to be given the full financial picture.
Run as a non-profit, the government appoints the board members of Ocean Park. Among them are the permanent secretary for development (works) and the commissioner for tourism.
It looks like the board of directors has not exercised proper oversight, and by extension, the government as well.
Ocean Park bailout will do more than ‘stop the bleeding’: tourism chief
No accountability is being demanded of park management by the government as it is trying to strong-arm lawmakers into approving the HK$10 billion-plus bailout, which also includes funding for seven new zones and 20 attractions over seven years.
Undeniably, Ocean Park has been a major recreational asset since its opening in 1977, in a city that has always lacked proper amenities for the public. Many Hongkongers have fond childhood memories of the park, including yours truly. It’s inconceivable to allow such an iconic Hong Kong landmark go under.
But there ought to be accountability. It is time for a senior management overhaul. The effectiveness and membership of the current board of directors needs to be questioned.
In a normal world, you can’t expect such a major public bailout without the heads of key personnel placed on a platter. But that is what Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah expects; and it looks like he will get it, too.
