Friday, February 24, 2012

Oh Donald - No.2

It seems just a few months before Donald is finishing his role as Hong Kong's CE all barriers get broken...first the Macao trip & now the mystery apartment in Shenzhen - 3 floors - more than 600 sqm big - how nice. But it is only rented Donald says - others say it was a "gift" from the developer (with the idea in mind that such a prominent tenant would attract more buyers). The whole / real truth we will never find out. A little bit disturbing is following: In his 2 terms Mr Donald Tsang was not even capable to address the housing problems / living conditions of the poorest people in Hong Kong. People living in cubicles 6 sqm size as a family of 3 and need to pay HKD 1,800 or more for that "shoebox" per month. The main intereting thing about that apartment is following:
Donald says he will only rent it for 3 years. The developer has put renovation efforts of around HKD 17 Million on that place. Sorry - please name me any developer who will do this for you in China. In China a new apartment means NAKED WALLS with nothing inside - normally the landlord (or the buyer/ owner)  need to do all the fixture like floor, kitchen, toilet, bathroom - simply everything.........So in this case the owner of this 3 floors is def. still the developer who is doing this for our Donald - not a landlord who already bought the flat from the developer - do you get the meaning. Sorry to say - that smells !
Here some more facts about that - just click here - this is from SHANGHAIIST:
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Hong Kong chief Donald Tsang in the spotlight over Shenzhen retirement penthouse and Macau trip

Donald-Tsang.jpg Donald Tsang, just months away from finishing his term as Chief Executive of Hong Kong, is in the spotlight over a three-storey 6,500 sq ft penthouse in Shenzhen's Futian district.
The luxury apartment occupying the 35th, 36th and 37th floors of an apartment building inside the Donghai Garden compound, was to serve as retirement home for him and his wife.
"I have no ambitions for my post- retirement life and I have no plan to do anything," Tsang was quoted as saying in local papers.
"I will leave Hong Kong for a period of time immediately after leaving my post so that my successor can be free to implement [his or her] work ... I think such a move is necessary," Tsang added, praising his predecessor Tung Chee-Hwa for setting the standard in non-interference.
Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao cites two real-estate agents familiar with the situation who said the apartment -- which boasts of a dozen rooms and multiple toilets according to leaked floor plans -- was "a gift from the developer" to Tsang.
The agents added that the apartment could fetch approximately HK$50 million on the market and that the developer had already spent HK$17 million on renovation works alone. If the apartment were available on the market, its rental price could be as high as HK$100,000 (or 80,000 yuan).
When they attempted to make their way to the 36th floor to take pictures of the apartment, the journalists were immediately surrounded by 10 security guards from the complex, forced to delete some of the pictures on their camera, and then expelled from the grounds.
The developer of the complex is one tycoon by the name of Wong Cho-bau, who is a delegate of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference with extensive business interests in both Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Tsang, whose term ends in June, has also been fighting accusations that he has breached the city's anti-bribery laws after pictures of him and his wife wining and dining with high rollers on a triple deck luxury boat were splashed in local media.
Tsang admitted he accepted the luxury yacht trip offered by a tycoon and joined in a banquet at a Macau casino resort, but said he paid his own way there "at market price".
Responding to media queries on his Shenzhen apartment last night, Tsang said, "I hope you will not always analyse issues from a negative conspiracy perspective. I'm very sad to see what is going on. And I'm very distressed, too. If this trend continues, Hong Kong will be constantly exhausted by internal strife."
In related news, Chief Executive hopeful CY Leung has submitted his nomination papers after receiving 293 nominations from the election committee.
In a new poll conducted by the South China Morning Post, Leung found favour with 63.9 per cent of the 506 respondents.
His main contender for the post, Henry Tang -- widely assumed to be the man backed by Beijing -- lagged behind at just 16 percent after he was dogged by rumours of marital infidelity and found to have illegally built a basement under his swimming pool in violation of the city's building codes.

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