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Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for the Treasury, Miss Denise Yue, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

Will the Executive Authorities inform this Council of the details of the public works projects which were shelved, postponed or cancelled due to the impending Cyberport or the Hong Kong Disneyland projects, including the names, the estimated project costs, the originally scheduled commencement dates or the forecast dates for upgrading to Category A in the public works programme?

Reply:

Madam President,

The Government has not shelved, postponed or cancelled any government capital works projects as a result of the impending Cyberport or the Hong Kong Disneyland projects.

Subject to the budgetary guidelines laid down by the Financial Secretary, we have been able to increase government expenditure on capital works annually since 1997-98. We anticipate this will continue to be the case for the Medium Range Forecast period ending 2002-03. For example, in the coming fiscal year (2000-2001), capital works expenditure under the Capital Works Reserve Fund is expected to increase by 3% in real terms. For this fiscal year, we plan to upgrade some 80 new projects to Category A status. This is in addition to the 94 projects Members already approved for upgrading to Category A in 1999-2000, including the two projects related to Cyberport and Disneyland theme park.

End/Wednesday, March 08, 2000

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