Hong Kong News Hub: Hong Kong gov’t spends less than 1% of HK$20 billion budget on purchase of welfare premises

The Hong Kong government had spent HK$150 million as of March on buying properties for welfare uses after the 2019-20 Budget allocated HK$20 billion for that purpose, the city’s labour and welfare chief has said.

The Social Welfare Department (SWD) had bought four premises with an expenditure of around HK$150 million under the Capital Works Reserve Fund – which pays for public works programmes and the acquisition of land – as of March this year, Chris Sun, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, told lawmakers at the legislature on Wednesday.

The premises, located in Sham Shui Po, Kwun Tong, Central and Western district, and Eastern district, were used for operating welfare facilities including a support centre for people with autism and a resources centre for parents and relatives, he said.

Sun was responding to questions from Jimmy Ng of the industrial sector, who inquired about the HK$20 billion funding reserved in the 2019-20 Budget for purchasing such properties.

The budget was allocated to address the shortage of welfare facilities in the city, according to a policy document submitted by the Social Welfare Department to the legislature in 2019. The document proposed acquiring premises for 158 such facilities across the city.

Explaining the shortfall, Sun cited a range of factors, including whether the buildings have suitable fire safety and barrier-free access as well as their size and location.

“In our experience, the available premises in the market usually concentrate in old areas. They are old buildings. The fire safety and barrier-free facilities may not meet our requirements,” he said in Cantonese.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Property owners were often not motivated to make repairs or upgrades to meet the department’s requirement, he added.

Sun denied that the SWD was “bidding too low” in making purchases, saying it had been working with the Government Property Agency to try to find suitable premises. “As long as [the properties] are at a reasonable market price, we would make a bid,” he said.

The SWD had earmarked a budget of $789 million for identifying suitable premises for purchase in 2023-24, the labour and welfare minister added.

Over HK$100 billion fiscal deficit

Paul Chan, Hong Kong’s finance minister, warned last month of a fiscal deficit of over HK$100 billion for the current fiscal year.

Doubling his previous forecast of a shortfall of HK$54.4 billion, Chan blamed a slow post-pandemic recovery and reduced revenue from land sales and stamp duty, as well as an unfavourable external economic environment.

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