Lawmakers Criticise 'pointless' Relaunch HK Campaign

Lawmakers on Wednesday criticised the government for spending over HK$40 million on a consultancy study on rebuilding Hong Kong’s international image.

The government previously announced that the contract had been awarded to PR firm Consulum, which also came up with promotional strategies for a “Relaunch Hong Kong” campaign which have yet to be implemented due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Under Secretary for Home Affairs, Jack Chan, told Legco that the cost was reasonable, as the firm had done a lot of work, including a survey of more than 10,000 people from 14 countries and in-depth interviews with more than 200 people from the business, academic and media sectors.

He said the firm’s study concluded that Hong Kong is the only city in the world that offers a secure and dynamic environment for business, an exciting cosmopolitan lifestyle and direct access to the mainland market.

But Chan’s explanation drew discontent from lawmakers, including Alice Mak of the Federation of Trade Unions who called the study a waste of money.

“You don’t need to spend more than 40 million dollars to get the study result, I can tell you all these about Hong Kong,” she said.

Abraham Shek from the Business and Professionals Alliance said the auditor should look into the matter.

“I don’t understand where the money was spent. Perhaps you didn’t know what you wanted at all and you think whatever the consultancy firm did was worth it,” he said.

DAB chairwoman Starry Lee said public money should be spent wisely especially when the economy is struggling to recover.

“The economy is bad. Citizens expect the government to spend every penny carefully. It’s questionable whether the consultancy firm should be hired at all,” she said.