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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

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conducting a review. However, if a review is to be conducted, I hope the chairmen of other Select Committees would assist in the review because the Administration Select Committee can only take up the coordination role in the final stage.

MR. WU CHI-WAI (in Cantonese):—I don't think my second question has been answered. I would like to ask: at present, what types of activities are enjoying the benefits whereby the more tickets are sold, the lower will be the tickets charge?

MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—I am sorry. I don't have the information on hand. What I can only tell you is that activities which can gain a good box revenue and which are more popular can have this privilege. Should Mr. Wu need to know in greater details about the types of activities which fall in this subsidy standard, perhaps I can ask the Department to submit a report to him.

Mr. Kam Nai-wai (in Cantonese):—Just now Mr. SUEN stressed that when it comes to venue hire charges, the greater is the gross ticket sale at the box office, the greater will be the revenue from hire charges. But it seems that there are double policies in this aspect. First, a greater revenue comes from a longer time of ticket selling. At the same time, we are actually getting less revenue from the URBTIX. This is an inconsistent policy. I wonder if the Urban Council will terminate the subsidy to profit-making activities. As for the URBTIX, has the Council any plan to cease this kind of subsidy?

Mr. Suen Kai-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, as I said just now, I support this review. But I also hope that the Chairman of the 2 Select Committees I mentioned earlier could help in the matter. I have to stress that, from an economic point of view, we should not just look at one item but should examine the whole account. We charge the venues users hire charges for the venue as well as service charges for providing ticket selling service. To view the situation as a whole, we should look at the overall income and expenditures instead of the account of a single item. For example, when a Chinese herbal shop first opens, it may offer a kind of herb to the customers free. As far as the business is concerned, this particular item loses money. Yet, the cost of this item could be recovered through selling other items. I think when considering a business, we should look at it this way.

CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—As the Chairman of the PAC, I would like to point out that it would be more appropriate for this issue to be discussed at the Culture Select Committee. The issue has in fact never been discussed at the Administration Select Committee and I don't know why Mr. SUEN has to answer this question. It is not that fair. I hope in future the annual paper concerning the URBTIX will be discussed by the Culture Select Committee. Recently, there is a paper on the time to effect full cost recovery. As Chairman

Page 398 of 485

Page 398 of 485

Page 398 of 485

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