1 Culture hub clears crucial cash hurdle
Diana Lee, The Standard 19 June 2008

The government has cleared a major hurdle in the controversial West Kowloon cultural hub project after a Legislative Council committee approved HK$21.6 billion in funding.

With support from the Liberal Party and the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, funding got the green light 14 votes to one; there was one abstention.

It now needs Finance Committee approval before the current legislative term ends in July.

Pan-democrat lawmakers expressed transparency concerns about the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and whether the government's valuation of HK$21.6 billion was enough.

"You assume the inflation rate increase at 2 percent per year for the coming 50 years. It's so laughable - it's merely a means to justify yourself seeking approval of the funding." medical sector lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki said.

Democratic Party's Lee Wing-tat urged the government to undertake a review of the whole operation after the completion of the first phase of the M+ project.

Civic Party's Alan Leong Kah-kit expressed transparency doubts about the project's management.

"The government won't even volunteer to make public the salaries of the newly appointed undersecretaries and political assistants," Leong said.

"And now you expect us not to ask any questions and just trust the government?"

Emily Lau Wai-hing, of the Frontier, said the Hong Kong Tourism Board does not have as much funding as the cultural hub project and yet it was found to have management problems.

Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Carrie Yau Tsang Ka- lai assured lawmakers that there would be a review of the project after the first phase has been completed.

 

2 Legco panel backs HK$21b for arts hub but wants accountability
Eva Wu, SCMP 19 June 2008

Lawmakers gave initial approval yesterday for a grant of HK$21.6 billion to the body which will build and manage cultural facilities in the West Kowloon arts hub, but demanded it report regularly to the Legislative Council.

The government said it would ask the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority to do so.

Members of Legco's public works subcommittee expressed fears about how the endowment would be used. Some cited lax supervision of spending by the Tourism Board, which has been accused of misusing taxpayers' money.

They also challenged the government's assumption that construction costs would rise by 2 per cent a year.

Civic Party lawmaker Alan Leong Kah-kit, who abstained in the vote on the funding, said the authority should give a detailed report to the legislature every six months on its spending and timetable for construction.

He pledged he would vote to approve the funding when the Finance Committee considered it next month.

"I do wish to support the government," Mr Leong said.

The Democratic Party's Lee Wing-tat, who also abstained, urged the government to review the cultural district's finances and operations in 2013, when most of the first phase of construction is due to have been completed.

Liberal Party vice-chairwoman Selina Chow Liang Shuk-yee  disagreed with Mr Leong, saying that it was not appropriate for the legislature to participate in the authority's management.

Carrie Yau Tsang Ka-lai, permanent secretary for home affairs, said the government would request the authority report regularly to Legco on the use of its funding but that some of the legislators' suggestions were unrealistic.

"We understand that people and lawmakers have expressed concerns over the transparency of use of this amount. So we pledge that the authority will report periodically to Legco on the use of the funding after it has come into operation," she said.

Emily Lau Wai-hing of The Frontier asked if the government had learned any lesson from the Tourism Board row.

"How is the transparency? I do not feel safe with the governance of the  authority," she said.

Government economist Kwok Kwok-chuen defended the 2 per cent inflation estimate but admitted it was difficult to estimate how construction costs might fluctuate, since many factors could affect them.

An expert commissioned by Legco earlier told lawmakers it was inappropriate for the government to take a long-term approach to estimating increases in construction costs and it would be more reasonable to base the estimate for cost inflation on recent trends. But the government responded that annual cost inflation over the past 20 years had fluctuated between 25 per cent and minus 13 per cent.

 

3 Construction Industry Council meets tomorrow
Hong Kong Government, 19 June 2008

The following is issued on behalf of the Construction Industry Council:

The Construction Industry Council (CIC) will meet tomorrow (June 20) at 2.30pm in Room 1201, 12/F, Murray Building, Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong.

The agenda items include:

(1) Third progress report of Construction Industry Training Board;

(2) First progress report of Objections Committee;

(3) Minutes of seventh meeting of Committee on Environment and Technology;

(4) Seventh progress report of Committee on Administration and Finance;

(5) Transfer of secretarial duties from the Development Bureau to CIC Staff; and

(6) CIC Annual Report for 2007.

People are welcome to observe the proceedings of the meeting. Due to physical constraints of the venue, seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.

The discussion on the last four items will not be open to the public for reasons of privacy and commercial sensitivity.