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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
The Housing Authority (HA) has projected in its latest budget and forecast exercise for the period 2012/13 to 2016/17 that it will continue to have sufficient financial resources to meet its recurrent expenditure and implement its current public housing construction and maintenance programmes.
During the five years from 2012/13 to 2016/17, the HA will maintain an annual production of about 15 000 public rental housing (PRH) flats on average to keep the average waiting time for general waiting list applicants at around three years. Also, following the Government's announcement in 2011, the HA is responsible for providing some 17 000 Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats over four years from 2016/17 onwards. It is anticipated that the first batch of flats will be completed in 2016/17 and be put up for pre-sale in 2014/15. The HA also plans to put up the remaining 800 or so surplus HOS flats for sale early this year.
After the meeting of the HA Finance Committee (FC) held today (January 4) on the HA 2013/14 Proposed Budget, the FC Chairman, Professor Raymond So, said, "While the HA's financial position remains steady in the short to medium term, the HA's cash and investment balance is projected to decrease significantly in the coming few years, mainly due to projected price increases in construction costs and operating costs, as well as additional construction costs for the new HOS.
"We are fully aware of the challenges ahead. The HA will remain vigilant and continue to closely monitor the possible financial impact generated by changes in the public housing construction programme, in particular changes in construction costs arising from the increase in material and manpower costs, especially amidst the flourishing construction industry, as well as volatility in the financial market."
The HA will continue to exercise prudent financial control and ensure cost-effective use of its resources to meet its policy objectives.
Today, the FC considered and endorsed the 2012/13 Revised Budget and the 2013/14 Proposed Budget. The FC also noted the 2014/15 to 2016/17 Financial Forecasts.
The Budget will be tabled for approval at the HA general meeting on January 24.
Ends/Friday, January 4, 2013
Issued at HKT 12:06
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