Hong Kong lawmakers spent 2 hours on average on each funding plan discussed

Finance Committee chairman says legislators have taken ‘cautious’ approach to scrutinising proposals

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Only 28 funding proposals required discussion, taking 54 hours and 49 minutes, or an hour and 55 minutes for each application. Photo: Edmond So

Published: 6:16pm, 17 Dec 2024Updated: 7:16pm, 17 Dec 2024

Hong Kong lawmakers spent about two hours on average vetting each of the 28 funding applications that required discussions this year, while a committee chairman said legislators took a “cautious” approach in scrutinising proposals.

Data revealed at a press conference held by the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee on Tuesday showed lawmakers approved a combined HK$250 billion (US$32.2 billion) for 58 funding applications in about 90 hours.

Only 28 proposals required discussion, taking up 54 hours and 49 minutes of the total, or an hour and 55 minutes for each application.

Addressing the forecast deficit of HK$100 billion for the 2024-25 financial year, committee chairman Ronick Chan Chun-ying said he was against cutting the salaries of civil servants and principal officials, arguing that effective measures were more important than “a goodwill gesture”.

He said the committee had spent about four hours vetting certain projects of public concern such as the Trunk Road T4 project that aimed to ease traffic congestion in Sha Tin.

Lawmakers’ criticism of the project’s initial cost of HK$7.1 billion prompted the Transport and Logistics Bureau to postpone its funding application and later scale it down to HK$6.8 billion. The committee approved the proposal in May.