Funding To Benefit HK People: FS

Financial Secretary Paul Chan today said he has no hesitation in allocating more resources into projects to benefit Hong Kong people, as soon as the Government’s current investments bear fruit.

During a radio phone-in programme to discuss his 2019-20 Budget, Mr Chan was asked to inject more money into enhancing Hong Kong’s iconic harbourfront.

He noted that in 2017, $500 million was set aside for harbourfront development, while in this Budget $6 billion was earmarked for developing new promenades and open space as well as improving facilities along the harbour.

“When the projects are being realised and the people appreciate and enjoy, I would have no hesitation in allocating additional resources to support work on this front. I would be happy to support projects that are good for the people of Hong Kong, not just for Victoria Harbour, because we do need to have other districts to look after.” 

The Government will allocate $20 billion to purchase 60 properties for accommodating more than 130 welfare facilities, including day child care centres, neighbourhood elderly centres and on-site pre-school rehabilitation services.

Responding to a caller’s concerns that the property purchases would benefit the private sector, Mr Chan emphasised that existing procurement procedures are very strict and comply with the ICAC’s requirements.

He added that if there were enough vacant government sites, he would inject more funds into developing those into welfare facilities. 

“The objective of that $20 billion is try to get premises to provide the social services facilities so that the much-needed social services for children, for young people, for the youth can be delivered as soon as possible.

"For providing social services this is location-specific because you want to be close to your recipients of services, you do not want to have those needy recipients to travel afar to receive this service. We do not have that many vacant sites. If we had those vacant sites, I would have no reservation in developing it into housing plus Government, Institution & Community facilities.” 

In response to calls to spend more from the Government’s coffers during an economic slowdown to provide more sweeteners and stimulate the economy, Mr Chan noted the Government has to strike a balance to maintain a healthy financial position. 

“If we exclude the housing reserve to be written back to the account, the coming year will be a deficit to the order of about $5 billion. To return the whole surplus to the people, the next year’s deficit would be in the order of close to $20 billion.

"We do think that by returning about 73% of the current year surplus back to the citizens via different means is the appropriate way to do it,” he said.