Funds will be reserved for hiring workers to replace pipes and for potential litigation
EDDIE.LEE@SCMP.COM
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 05 January, 2016, 12:52pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 05 January, 2016, 12:55pm
Finance committee chairman Professor Raymond So (second from left) unveiled the housing authority’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Photo: Eddie Lee from left: Helen Cheung Ng Man-ngo, Raymond So Wai-man, Ivan Lee Kwok-bun and Lawrence Tse Sai-ip
The Hong Kong Housing Authority plans to put aside at least HK$30 million in the coming fiscal year in preparation for extra expenditures relating to the tainted water scare.
The developer of the city’s public rental housing said the money would be reserved for the hiring of temporary workers to replace pipes and for potential litigation after the same amount had been earmarked for this financial year.
“I don’t think we still need to buy bottled water for residents in the 2016/17 period,” said finance committee chairman Professor Raymond So Wai-man as he unveiled the authority’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year on Tuesday.
The authority forked out a total of HK$60 million to distribute bottled water to residents in 11 public housing estates where excessive lead was found in tap water samples last summer.
So declined to predict whether the scandal would continue to take its toll on the authority’s already tight budget, but he reiterated that the increasing number of projects and higher construction costs were stretching its resources.
“Depleting at around HK$10 billion per annum, the authority’s cash and investment balance is projected to decrease significantly from the opening balance of HK$67 billion in April 2015 to about HK$16 billion at the end of the forecast period in March 2020,” So said.
He added that there was no pressing need for immediate injection of government money to support the authority’s operations, but it would be “dangerous “ once its cash and investment balance dropped below HK$20 billion.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1898088/hong-kong-housing-authority-set-aside-another-hk30
