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The Home Affairs Bureau responded to the conclusions of the report submitted by the Specialist Advisor commissioned by the Legislative Council Subcommittee on West Kowloon Cultural District Development at a Subcommittee meeting today (May 30). A summary of the response is at Annex 1.
A spokesman for the Home Affairs Bureau said that the Chief Executive appointed the Consultative Committee on the Core Arts and Cultural Facilities of the West Kowloon Cultural District (Consultative Committee) in April 2006 to re-examine and re-confirm, if appropriate, the need of the core arts and cultural facilities for the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD). Since then, the LegCo Subcommittee has convened a total of 26 meetings, including seven meetings held between April 2006 and August 2007, as well as 19 meetings held during the period from September 2007 (when the Government launched the Public Engagement Exercise on the WKCD project) till now (i.e. up to the end of May 2008).
The spokesman said, "The financing approach for the WKCD project and the WKCD Authority Bill currently proposed by the Government are based on the recommendations of the Consultative Committee, which have already taken into account the Subcommittee's comments on the WKCD project and its financing arrangement."
Ends/Friday, May 30, 2008
Issued at HKT 19:54
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