Page 400 of 485
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
113
Members at this meeting are not Members of the Select Committee, they may not know the details. Could a detailed paper be provided after the meeting?
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—Actually, all 41 Members are members of Culture Select Committee. Could we discuss this at the Culture Select Committee meeting? The Culture Select Committee has had discussions on the URBTIX in its last meeting and there was a detailed paper on this subject. It is a pink Restricted Paper.
MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, I'll make some response nevertheless. Mr. Chan Choi-hi is only trying to get this paper for the Members. In fact, he is the Vice-Chairman of the Administration Select Committee and should know the details himself, because the Department has submitted the said paper in a previous meeting of the Select Committee at the Members' request for information on all production cost.
MISS ADA WONG YING-KAY (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, firstly, URBTIX falls under the jurisdiction of the Administration Select Committee and the pink paper was submitted at the meeting of the Administration Select Committee. I would like to ask a follow-up question. Mr. Suen just now mentioned that in hiring a venue, the hirer has to pay hiring charge, whereas the Council has to bear the various expenses in managing the venue such as electricity, gas and water charges and wages for the ushers, etc. Cost for ticket selling, which is $6 each, should also be an item of operational cost of the venue. So it would be logical to recover the ticket-selling cost from the hire charge. Then there will be no question of subsidy. I would like to ask why has such arrangement never been considered before?
MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—There are some technical difficulties regarding this. There are a total of 23 URBTIX outlets at present but only 7 of them are under the management of the UC. In addition, the URBTIX not only sells tickets for UC activities but also tickets for the Recreation Amenities and Sports Offices as well as the RC. If the cost of selling all kinds of tickets is included in one basket in the calculation of hire charges for UC venues, there may be technical difficulty. I think it is better to discuss this issue at the Public Accounts Committee from an accounting point of view. There may be some constructive ideas.
Chairman (in Cantonese):—I think discussion on this issue should stop here for the time being. If Members would like to follow-up on this issue, we may discuss at the Administration Select Committee when the Department has submitted a detailed paper on this.
3. MR. FRANCIS TANG CHI-HO asked the following question (in Cantonese):—Since Hong Kong has a long coastline in the districts under UC
Page 400 of 485
Page 400 of 485
Page 400 of 4850
Page 400
Page 401
Page 400 of 485
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
113
Members at this meeting are not Members of the Select Committee, they may not know the details. Could a detailed paper be provided after the meeting?
CHAIRMAN (in Cantonese):—Actually, all 41 Members are members of Culture Select Committee. Could we discuss this at the Culture Select Committee meeting? The Culture Select Committee has had discussions on the URBTIX in its last meeting and there was a detailed paper on this subject. It is a pink Restricted Paper.
MR. SUEN KAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):-Mr. Chairman, I'll make some response nevertheless. Mr. Chan Choi-hi is only trying to get this paper for the Members. In fact, he is the Vice-Chairman of the Administration Select Committee and should know the details himself, because the Department has submitted the said paper in a previous meeting of the Select Committee at the Members' request for information on all production cost.
MISS ADA WONG YING-KAY (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, firstly, URBTIX falls under the jurisdiction of the Administration Select Committee and the pink paper was submitted at the meeting of the Administration Select Committee. I would like to ask a follow-up question. Mr. Sven just now mentioned that in hiring a venue, the hirer has to pay hiring charge, whereas the Council has to bear the various expenses in managing the venue such as electricity, gas and water charges and wages for the ushers, etc. Cost for ticket selling, which is $6 each, should also be an item of operational cost of the venue. So it would be logical to recover the ticket-selling cost from the hire charge. Then there will be no question of subsidy. I would like to ask why has such arrangement never been considered before?
Mr. Suen Kai-chɛong (in Cantonese):-There are some technical difficulties regarding this. There are a total of 23 URBTIX outlets at present but only 7 of them are under the management of the UC. In addition, the URBTIX not only sells tickets for UC activities but also tickets for the Recreation Amenities and Sports Offices as well as the RC. If the cost of selling all kinds of tickets is included in one basket in the calculation of hire charges for UC venues, there may be technical difficulty. I think it is better to discuss this issue at the Public Accounts Committee from an accounting point of view. There may be some constructive ideas.
Chairman (in Cantonese):--I think discussion on this issue should stop here for the time being. If Members would like to follow-up on this issue, we may discuss at the Administration Select Committee when the Department has submitted a detailed paper on this.
3. MR. FRANCIS TANG CHI-HO asked the following question (in Cantonese):-Since Hong Kong has a long coastline in the districts under UC
Page 400 of 485
Page 400 of 485
Page 400 of 4850
Page 400Page 401
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.