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The Financial Secretary, Mr Donald Tsang, who is now in London, participated at the press conference on the Hong Kong Disneyland project today (Wednesday) via video conference. The following is his opening remarks:

I know that the project since its announcement has received quite widespread support from members of the public, from the legislature and from members of the media. And, of course, typical Hong Kong style, there are dissenting voices. This is quite natural and I'll try to address one of the points which worries Hong Kong people and, that is, whether we have got a fair deal.

From the point of view that Walt Disney's investment is proportionally much less than Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government's investment - but we must accept that our objective of investment and the considerations are quite different. From Walt Disney's point of view, the return comes entirely from the incomes derived from using the rides, the restaurant facilities and other supporting facilities inside the venue, whereas the Hong Kong Government's investment is in infrastructure. The return to us cannot be limited - the amount of money we derive from profit sharing in the company itself - but rather the whole economy gains. In other words, the infrastructure investment is going to generate profit, not only for the Government or government treasury, but for the ordinary people who are operating restaurants in Hong Kong. Our hotels will benefit. Our tourist industry will benefit. Our airline will benefit. And all the retail shops will benefit as the result of more tourists coming to Hong Kong. The return is quite remarkable. And we know that over the first 40 years, in present day prices, the benefit is estimated at over $140 billion, whereas the economic benefit itself - the return itself is over 25 per cent per year. I think these are quite impressive figures. So if you look at it in this light, I think we have a good deal.

End/Wednesday, November 3, 1999

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