HONG KONG: Mr Jackie Liu and his girlfriend gave up on Hong Kong Disneyland after one visit there, even though it will be years before ground is broken on another Disney park in Shanghai.

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I heard that when Singapore tried to entice Disney to setup a theme park here years back, Disney wanted the moon, like give them the land free etc. Singapore said no, and the deal was off.

The HK government had to foot significant portion of the bills for HK Disneyland - paying HK$3.25 billion for 57% share of the Hong Kong International Theme Parks Ltd which will own and operate the park (co-owned by Disney).

Furthermore, the HK government budgetted to incur HK$6.1 billion for their share of the estimated cost of building Hong Kong Disneyland is HK$14.1 billion.

And in addition, the HK government had to budget for HK$13.6 billion on major infrastructure works, including roads, ferry terminals, etc.

In comparison, Singapore at least did smart by making the IR developers *pay* for the cost of land and the development of the sites.

Imagine if Singapore had given Disney what Disney asked for to build a theme park in Singapore, and then less than a decade later, Disney set up another park in KL ...

As a friend of mine said, HK got screwed in the wazoo ... by Mickey Mouse ...
At least it's someone else's turn besides Singapore this time ...

Don't cheer other's misery so soon... Singapore is being screwed by F1 - may have to put up our own team (at US$400mil a year) to help sustain it. It is also too early to tell if we will be screwed by the IRs (in particular, Sands) or not.

Since we are talking about "being screwed"...the root cause is GREED.

The principle is simple - people get screwed because they are greedy. Take the example of the recent collapse of financial institutions which were household names.

If one is contented and not craving for more - no chance of being screwed.

Originally Posted by ForgiveForget

Don't cheer other's misery so soon...

Oh no, this is not cheering at misery of others - just to highlight that governments should refrain from investing public money in commercial ventures as much as possible.

If it is commercially viable, the private sector would want to fund it.

Originally Posted by ForgiveForget

Singapore is being screwed by F1 - may have to put up our own team (at US$400mil a year) to help sustain it.

F1 in Singapore is a bad idea from the start, I've no doubt about it, especially after the 2 races so far.
But at least they didn't built new infrastructure for it.

Originally Posted by ForgiveForget

It is also too early to tell if we will be screwed by the IRs (in particular, Sands) or not.

Well, as of now, it's still their own money, not Singapore's public money.

I don't think the IRs can screw Singapore, but Singapore can screw Singapore if they dismantle the stringent rules that are supposed to be put in place to prevent gambling addiction and to prevent those who cannot afford to gamble into the casinos.

If the IRs are not giving the kind of returns the investors want (which is a possibility), they'll lobby the government to relax the rules such as the S$100 entrance fee for locals, or expand the size of area allowed for the casinos or the percentage of their operations on casinos versus the non-casino operations of the resort.

Originally Posted by mr.maverick

The principle is simple - people get screwed because they are greedy. Take the example of the recent collapse of financial institutions which were household names.

If one is contented and not craving for more - no chance of being screwed.

That is not 100% correct.

It is an accepted financial knowledge that putting money in the bank yields negative returns in the long term because of inflation.

We cannot fault people for wanting to protect the worth of their savings against inflation.

I believe many are genuinely ignorant of the risky nature of the financial instruments they were sold.

Because the market is not perfect, higher prospective returns are not always accompanied by higher risks.

Its call "Feng Shui Lui Lui Chuan "

With all the beautiful airport sprouting up all over China and their Domestic Flight,who needs to go HK or come to SG ?

Next and soon, something similar will springup in India.

So maybe wats best for Sg is still Banking and biz thats High Tech and new enough to be legally protected by Intellectual Rights and Property law here in SG.

Disney = robbery without violence.
Glad that $ingapore showed some sense on this one.

HK is being fleeced by her own "mother land". Take it from us, we kena Suzhou, we know how it feels.

Hongkong people are very creative they know very well how to raise the attractiveness of Hongkong as tourist destination, hence Hongkong's Disney will also benefit from it.