April 20, 2010

• <So Long!>

  This is the third worst policy of the HKSAR Government since its return to the motherland, behind the 85000-housing policy and Mother-tongue language policy :

  港府擬撥1.2億 補貼6離島航線 (from MingPao)

  “本港多條離島渡輪虧蝕多年，為解困境，港府昨建議撥款1.2億元，挑選6條來往中環及長洲、南丫島、坪洲、梅窩的主要渡輪航線，明年起它們一旦加價，政府就會在扣除通脹後，補貼一半的票價加幅。”

  “不過，船公司不會直接收取現金補貼，港府估計6條航線每年維修船的費用為4000萬元，3年專營權期限內合共維修開支1.2億元，船公司要在維修費中實報實銷，以領取政府補貼。”

  ——————-

  The non-direct recipient argument is crap, as the repairing expense, supposed to be paid by the operators, is now back to their pockets. In essence, it really does not matter whether they pay the expense and then reimburse it from the government or government pays it on their behalf. A dollar saved is a dollar earned.

  Why is it the third-worst? Because the operations is on profit basis, and taxpayers have nothing, I repeat, nothing to do with the losses they are suffering. Wrong business decisions basing on erroneous expectation on revenue and cost are inevitable part of life, and the market mechanism, in essence, awards those with better decision and penalizes those with worse. 

  By subsidizing those in losses represents injustice, unfairness, unreasonableness and could destroy the most basic fundamentals of Hong Kong.

  Yes, $120 million is really not a big trunk of money. But the unquantifiable costs to Hong Kong, i.e. the loss of the principle we have been upholding for years, far exceed this $120 million.

  Oh yes, were not for the subsidy, fare price will go up or those operators will close down. And so what? This is the resources necessary to be used for their transport, so still adhere to the user-pay principle. Fare price goes up for only a minor group of people, and we must not forget that this subsidy is at the expense of all taxpayers. If those economic disadvantaged face hardship in affording the higher fare, there are means for them to apply for transport or other subsidy.

  To my understanding, there has not been any single case, I repeat, any single case where the HK Government pays the operating costs for a business operating on a profit basis, in return for nothing directly. HK Government does inject equity into public transport (e.g. MTR) on a lum-sum basis. But this subsidy for ferries is a dangerous and disastrous precedence for Hong Kong.

  
  So long, Hong Kong.

  • 11:15 am
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