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referring to paragraph 12 of the reply, $2.6 billion represents the Council's total expenditure for three months. That seems to indicate that our reserve is at a reasonable level. I hope the Finance Select Committee will review the situation, bearing in mind that we have a steady income from many sources of which about 80% is from rates.
As such, there is absolutely no problem with our source of finance. The question is when we apply another kind of standard and look at deficits, we can see that $2.6 billion is 26 times the average deficit of $100 million. So, it all depends on how you look at things. For me, I do not think we have been making appropriate use of our $2.6 billion surplus. I think that when we express the hope for the Finance Select Committee to consider investing our $2.6 billion for more interest or a better rate of return, we look at the projected expenditure on municipal facilities and services. I sincerely hope that the Finance Select Committee and other concerned committees will make good use of the $2.6 billion to extend our services to the public.
MR. ALBERT LAI WING-LIN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ambrose CHEUNG has already asked my first question. I want to elaborate that a larger surplus reflects on more inadequacies in our services because our money should be spent on providing services to the public, not for saving up. So long as we maintain a safe level of reserve, we should consider doing more to serve the public. My second question is to do with statistics. What is the worth of the assets managed by the Urban Council after deduction of land premium? We don't want to give the wrong impression to the general public that 41 Urban Councillors are trying to spend $5 billion every year. Can we have some statistics? If they cannot be provided today, maybe at a later date.
MR. CHIANG SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):—Thank you, Mr. Ambrose CHEUNG and Mr. Albert LAI Wing-lin. The Finance Select Committee will certainly consider the constructive proposals made by Mr. Ambrose CHEUNG just now. I think we should give due regard to Mr. Lai's suggestion too. As for statistics on our assets, I am afraid I cannot provide them now. Maybe the statistics can be provided to Mr. Lai later.
MR. STEPHEN WONG HON-CHING (in Cantonese):—Basically, I agree with Mr. Ambrose CHEUNG and Mr. Albert LAI Wing-lin. My own question is that, theoretically speaking, our operation is such that we do not need to have as large a reserve as $2.6 billion. Some members gave the view that a normal reserve is absolutely necessary, but I think a reserve of over $2 billion is a waste. A colleague has just pointed out that earning interest amounted to negative growth. Depositing our reserve with several licensed banks to minimize risk, as pointed out in paragraph 16 of the reply, does not seem to me what the Council should do. What we are supposed to do is to apportion the surplus for the use of different Select Committees, not to keep it as reserve. I hope the Finance Select Committee and other relevant committees will actively discuss the matter and
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
89
referring to paragraph 12 of the reply, $2.6 billion represents the Council's total expenditure for three months. That seems to indicate that our reserve is at a reasonable level. I hope the Finance Select Committee will review the situation. bearing in mind that we have a steady income from many sources of which about 80% is from rates.
As such, there is absolutely no problem with our source of finance. The question is when we apply another kind of standard and look at deficits, we can see that $2.6 billion is 26 times the average deficit of $100 million. So, it all depends on how you look at things. For me, I do not think we have been making appropriate use of our $2.6 billion surplus. I think that when we express the hope for the Finance Select Committee to consider investing our $2.6 billion for more interest or a better rate of return, we look at the projected expenditure on municipal facilities and services. I sincerely hope that the Finance Select Committee and other concerned committees will make good use of the $2.6 billion to extend our services to the public.
MR. ALBERT LAI WING-LIN (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman, Mr. Ambrose CHEUNG has already asked my first question. I want to elaborate that a larger surplus reflects on more inadequacies in our services because our money should be spent on providing services to the public, not for saving up. So long as we maintain a safe level of reserve, we should consider doing more to serve the public. My second question is to do with statistics. What is the worth of the assets managed by the Urban Council after deduction of land premium? We don't want to give the wrong impression to the general public that 41 Urban Councillors are trying to spend $5 billion every year. Can we have some statistics? If they cannot be provided today, maybe at a later date.
MR. CHIANG SAI-CHEONG (in Cantonese):-Thank you, Mr. Ambrose CHEUNG and Mr. Albert LAI Wing-lin. The Finance Select Committee will certainly consider the constructive proposals made by Mr. Ambrose CHEUNG just now. I think we should give due regard to Mr. Lai's suggestion too. As for statistics on our assets, I am afraid I cannot provide them now. Maybe the statistics can be provided to Mr. Lai later.
Mr. San Stephen Wong Hon-CHING (in Cantonese):—Basically. I agree with Mr. Ambrose CHEUNG and Mr. Albert Lat Wing-lin. My own question is that, theoretically speaking, our operation is such that we do not need to have as large a reserve as $2.6 billion. Some members gave the view that a normal reserve is absolutely necessary, but I think a reserve of over $2 billion is a waste. A colleague has just pointed out that earning interest amounted to negative growth. Depositing our reserve with several licensed banks to minimize risk, as pointed out in paragraph 16 of the reply, does not seem to me what the Council should do. What we are supposed to do is to apportion the surplus for the use of different Select Committees, not to keep it as reserve. I hope the Finance Select Committee and other relevant committees will actively discuss the matter and
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