Financial Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has been appointed the first chairman of the Disney joint venture company, the Government announced last night.
The news came after two green groups criticised Tourism Commissioner Mike Rowse for failing to declare his role as a director of the company while he was promoting the project.
A government statement, which did not say when Mr Tsang was appointed, said the Hong Kong International Theme Parks board-of-directors' list contained five government officials and four Disney representatives. Two independent directors will be appointed later.
Mr Tsang, who is among the directors, will be chairman until September 30. After that, the chairmanship will be rotated annually between Disney and the Government.
A government spokesman said the five government directors would not receive any extra salaries for the appointment and if any fees were to be paid, the money would become public revenue.
Plato Yip Kwong-to, assistant director of Friends of the Earth, which is dissatisfied about the officials' failure to declare their roles clearly until yesterday, will meet the Ombudsman next week to lodge a complaint about Mr Rowse's alleged conflict of interest. Mr Rowse has denied the allegation, saying he represents Hong Kong's investment in the project.
