Paper Talk: Management contract for loss-making Hong Kong youth facility renewed for seven years

Sunday, Oriental Daily

Contract renewed with New World to manage loss-making youth facility

The government has decided to renew its contract with New World Facilities Management to operate Youth Square in Chai Wan for another seven years, to 2023. The facility provides a wide range of amenities such as theatres, studios, multi-purpose areas, hostels, retail shops and offices to facilitate youth development. This is despite Youth Square seeing fewer visitors and making losses of more than HK$30 million every year. The management fee in the new contract has increased by a whopping 37 per cent to HK$510 million, or about HK$73 million every year. The Home Affairs Bureau said the facility was a platform to promote youth development, and its value could not be judged simply in terms of whether income could cover expenses.

Monday, Ming Pao Daily

Survey finds no pesticides in organic vegetables from certified vendors, contradicting Consumer Council’s results

A survey by the Hong Kong Organic Resource Centre has found no trace of pesticides in the testing samples of organic vegetables sold by certified vendors – a stark contrast to the results of a similar survey earlier conducted by the Consumer Council, which found pesticides in 28 samples of so-called organic vegetables. Wong Woon-chung, director of the centre, said its survey showed it was safe to consume organic food. He said the Consumer Council survey failed to distinguish certified organic vegetables from other organic vegetables, and the sellers in the council report were referred to simply as “organic food vendors”.