'Cash Subsidy For Businesses Hit By Lockdown'

The government was on Monday facing mounting calls to compensate businesses that lost out because of the weekend lockdown in Jordan.

Yau Tsim Mong district councillors urged officials to provide a cash subsidy to those affected and criticised the Chief Secretary, Matthew Cheung, for saying there would be no compensation before speaking to traders in the area.

District councillor Frank Ho said there could well be more than 100 businesses that were affected, many of them restaurants and retail shops.

Ho said a one-off subsidy of HK$20,000 or an amount covering half of their losses should be given to the shop owners each, noting that some restaurants lost HK$60,000 due to the lockdown.

He added the chief secretary should come to Jordan to see for himself how the businesses are struggling.

A takeaway shop owner on Shanghai Street complained that the government had not notified him before the lockdown on Saturday morning, and he had to throw away all the food he'd ordered when his shop reopened on Monday morning.

He said the lockdown cost him HK$30,000 and there was little business on Monday too.

The owner said without government help, many shops in the area could go out of business.

"We had already been hard hit before. No one bought food from us as there were no visitors on Temple Street. And after the lockdown, people are even more afraid to come here," he said.

"[Cheung] just said 'no compensation'. That's it. But how are we going to survive?"

A food stall owner in the open market on Reclamation Street, surnamed Ma, said she hopes people will not avoid coming to the area when shopping for Chinese New Year, saying sales in the festive season account for up to 90 percent of her annual income.