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Club and the Recreation and Culture Branch, being adopted by the Council. This child is retarded by birth. But helplessly the UC has to take care of this child of the JC and the RCB and the UC has to be responsible for his upbringing. We have appointed an international baby sitter, Wembley. Every year we have to pay a lot of money to bring up this child hoping that he can become internationally renowned. But as the biological parents, the Jockey Club and the Government do not care about the upbringing of the child. Not only do they refuse to pay his educational expenses, they have even closed their doors. An agreement has been signed between the Government and the Council to the effect that the Stadium will be managed on a self-financing basis. If there is a deficit, the Council cannot ask for more rates from the Government. Under the circumstances, the Council has to take on the sole responsibility of the Stadium. In order to generate surplus, concerts are allowed to be staged. But of course there are pros and cons. On one hand, we earned a substantial income, but on the other hand, we lost our reputation. This is because by allowing concerts to take place at the Stadium, the nearby residents have suffered from noise and traffic nuisances. So a lot of people have put the blame on the UC. Mr. Chairman, the Stadium is not owned by the UC. It belongs to all the people of Hong Kong. So we have to decide whether we should continue to be subjected to innuendoes, scepticism and criticism. Mr. Chairman, I beg to urge the Council to request the Government to review the self-financing policy applicable to the management of the Hong Kong Stadium so that the management company can maximise the use of the Stadium. This can relieve the Council of its heavy financial burden and the Stadium can serve its original functions. We can reduce the current rental of $150,000 so as to encourage more organisations to make use of the Stadium. Without this kind of financial pressure, the Council can hold many international sports and recreational activities for the general public. Mr. Chairman, I beg to move.
MR. FUNG KWONG-CHUNG (in Cantonese): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Urban Council has a history of over 100 years. The Urban Council has always subsidized the venues so that hirers could stage recreational and sports activities to let members of the public share such facilities. The Hong Kong Stadium has become the talk of the town particularly in relation to concerts and noise pollution created. Some organisations have petitioned the Council asking to ban the staging of all concerts at the Hong Kong Stadium so that nearby residents will not be disturbed. Since there has been a very strong outcry from nearby residents, we should respect their wishes. Before we have effective measures to resolve the noise problem, the Hong Kong Stadium should not further stage concerts. However, in order to avoid the situation where our financial position will not be affected by deficits incurred by the Hong Kong Stadium, I support Miss Christina Ting's motion to urge the Government to review the self-financing policy applicable to the management of the Hong Kong Stadium. Without this principle, we can instruct the Stadium Manager to maximize the usage of the Stadium to gain more financial resources. Mr. Chairman, I beg to second the motion.
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MR. MA LEE-WO (in Cantonese): Mr. Chairman, about the principle of self-financing, I have to look at the background of the redevelopment of the Stadium because that is directly related to why we have to stage so many concerts. On the 7 November 1991, we met the Secretary for Recreation and Culture (SRC). The SRC told us that there were three considerations for redevelopment. First, after the redevelopment, the Stadium should be a national stadium so that a lot of people can watch sports and entertainment activities. He cited the Michael Jackson show as an example. If we didn't have this sort of high-quality stadium, such singers might not come. Originally the seating was planned to be 60,000 but it was found by the consultant to be not feasible, so it was reduced to 40,000. To accommodate 40,000 seats, there were discussions about scrapping the running track. I am sure members will recall that. The second consideration of the administration was that after redevelopment, it should be an international standard facility. It did not have to rely upon subsidy from public funds. This is an important point. The Stadium should be managed on the basis of self-financing. The third consideration was that after redevelopment the Stadium should attract income to support the promotion of sports in Hong Kong. It seems that recently the SRC has had second thoughts. He said that it was not a must for the Stadium to make a profit. This morning, the SRC said that if necessary, concerts could be done away with. So maybe the BOG should take note of that. The above-mentioned three considerations were related to the management strategy of the Hong Kong Stadium. The management body had to accept these considerations before it was given the management responsibility. In 1992 when we considered taking over the Stadium, the departmental paper mentioned that again, i.e., first of all, the Government hoped that the new Stadium would be self-financing. It would even be better if the Stadium could make profits to subsidize sports activities. Second, if profits are accrued, the UC could retain a minor share of the profit while the major portion had to be handed over to the Government who would decide how to make use of it to support sports. Third, if there was a deficit, the UC could not use this as a reason to ask for an increase in rates. In the Government's consideration of funding the UC, it would not take into account profits from the Stadium either. So we accepted the management of the Stadium based on these three principles. The principle of self-financing of the Stadium was deliberately requested by the Administration. What does it mean by self-financing? The meetings with the SRC and the Department revealed that the Stadium should be operated on a commercial basis. According to the consultancy reports, a 40,000-seat stadium is commercially viable. The channels for profit can be through deluxe Executive Suites, concession outlets, advertising spaces, restaurants, carparks, rentals, and TV broadcasting rates, etc. According to the estimates, every year the Stadium could only be used for about 20 to 30 days, including 3 days for concerts. Why is it that we already had 7 concerts and 9 applications in the pipeline? What is behind the principle of self-financing? If you want to operate the Stadium in a commercial manner, then of course you have to get the maximum profit. I am sure Mr. Chairman, as a banker, you will be very clear about that. You can use the present resources to
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