| Date
| Context
| Summary of development
| Action
|
|---|
|
6.8.03
| PRESS
| The Financial Secretary announced that the Administration would commence work in preparation for the proposed privatization of the Airport Authority (AA) Hong Kong. [Press Release]
|
|
|
23.2.04
&
2.3.04
| ES
| The Administration briefed the Panel on the proposed privatization of AA. Members raised a number of concerns over the subject matter. These included:
| (a) | the impact of privatization on staff working on the airport island;
| | (b) | regulation of airport charges;
| | (c) | mechanism for upkeeping the service standards and efficiency after privatization;
| | (d) | scope of AA's business and competition and mechanism to prevent AA from abusing its monopolistic power after privatization;
| | (e) | residual Government controls over AA after privatization;
| | (f) | how to strike a balance among the conflicting interests of various stakeholders after privatization;
| | (g) | overseas experience in privatization of airports;
| | (h) | whether the Government could take back the land on the airport island not already earmarked for airport operational and support facilities before privatizing AA; and
| | (i) | the pros and cons of various privatization options.
|
Members noted that the Administration had conducted informal consultation on the proposed privatization with many stakeholders to gauge their views on the matter. The Administration stated that it was mindful of the concerns over certain issues relating to the proposed privatization, and therefore had decided to take more time to further consult stakeholders before putting a privatization bill to the Legislative Council.
In the meantime, the Administration intended to restructure the capital of AA in order to lower its overall cost of capital. The Administration proposed to ask AA to return about $6 billion of equity capital to Government prior to privatization while AA would finance such return of equity by borrowing. In order to take forward the proposal, the Administration needed to introduce an amendment bill to enable the capital of the AA established under the Airport Ordinance to be reduced. [Paper]
Supplementary information provided by the Administration in response to questions raised by Members at the Panel meetings on 23 February 2004 and 2 March 2004 respectively. [Follow-up Paper] & [Follow-up Paper]
|
|
|
24.3.04
| COU
| The Administration introduced the Airport Authority (Amendment) Bill 2004 (the Bill) into the Council. The object of the Bill is to provide a mechanism by which the share capital of the AA which is stated in section 23(1) of the Airport Authoriy Ordinance (Cap.483) may be reduced.[Hansard "Page 81"]
|
|
|
16.4.04
| HC
| Members decided to form a Bills Committee to scrutinize the Bill. [Report]
|
|
|
7.5.04
| BC
| Bills Committee was formed to scrutinize the Bill. Members went through the clauses and supported the Bill. They agreed to report to the House Committee on 21.5.04, recommending the resumption of the Second Reading debate on the Bill.
The following documents had been distributed for members' reference:
| LegCo Brief issued by the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau in March 2004. [LegCo Brief]
| | The Legal Service Division Report. [Report]
| | A background brief on the Bill. [Background Brief]
| | Correspondences between the Assistant Legal Adviser and the Administration.[Letter], [Letter]
| | | | |
|
|
|
21.5.04
| HC
| The Bills Committee submitted its report to the HC recommending the resumption of Second Reading debate on the Bill on 9.6.04. [Report]
|
|
|
9.6.04
| COU
| The Bill was passed by the Council. [Report], [Hansard "page 106"]
|
|
|
16.6.04
| COU
| The Administration moved a resolution to effect the proposed reduction of $6 billion in the capital of AA and to require AA to distribute an amount equivalent to the reduction to the Government. The resolution was passed by the Council. [Hansard "Page 151"]
|
|
|
22.11.04
| ES
| The Panel discussed some preliminary proposals for the post-privatization regulatory framework put forward by the Administration [Paper]
Background brief prepared by the LegCo Secretariat [Background brief]
|
|
|
31.1.05
| ES
| The Administration's response to Questions raised on 22 November 2004 relating to Partial Privatization of the Airport Authority [Paper]
|
|
