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About 280 fee items of community recreation and sports programmes held in the urban area and the New Territories will be aligned from October 1 according to the principle that the lower rate will prevail, a spokesman for the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) announced today (August 20).
These programmes cover mainly training courses and recreation activities. The reductions in fees will range from $1 to $57. For example, the fee for swimming training courses held in the urban area will be adjusted downward from $108 to $100 while the fee for badminton training courses held in the New Territories will be reduced from $175 to $118.
Apart from the adjustment of fees and charges, the different arrangements of similar programmes in the urban area and the New Territories including class size, instructor-to-participant ratio, facility-to-participant ratio and duration for each class will also be aligned from October 1, the spokesman said.
He added that the newly published October Issue of the Community Recreation and Sports Programme booklet contains all necessary programme information including the new aligned fees and activity arrangements.
The booklet is available for collection at LCSD District Leisure Services Offices or sports centres throughout the 18 districts. Relevant information has also been uploaded to the LCSD website (www.lcsd.gov.hk).
In his 2013 Policy Address, the Chief Executive announced that the Government would introduce legislation to align fees and charges for leisure facilities and services in the urban area and the New Territories based on the lower of the current levels. About 540 fees and charges for recreation and sports facilities in the urban area and the New Territories have been aligned since August 1.
For the remaining 170 or so fee-charging items which are more complicated, such as those for commercial, non-designated and non-sporting uses of facilities, their alignment or adjustment will be considered upon the completion of the current fee alignment exercise, the spokesman added.
Ends/Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:01
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