LCQ20: Leasing of offices and multi-function areas in Youth Square
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     Following is a question by the Hon Cheung Kwok-che and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, in the Legislative Council today (April 14):

Question:

     The Chief Executive announced in his 1998 Policy Address the construction of a centre for development in Chai Wan to provide a focal point for youth development work and activities. The centre is now called the Youth Square and has been commissioned by phases since the end of last year. It has been learnt that the offices and multi-function areas on the eighth and ninth floors of the Youth Square, which has a total area of about 1,300 square metres, have been officially commissioned for leasing to youth groups. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:

(a)  of the application procedure and eligibility for leasing the aforesaid offices and multi-function areas; the number of applications received so far and, among them, the respective numbers of those which have been approved and rejected, as well as the reasons for rejecting such applications;

(b)  of the area, rental, name of the leasing group and lease period of the aforesaid various office units (set out in the table below); and

(i)    Unit number of the office
(ii)   Area of the unit
(iii)  Rental
(iv)   Name of the leasing group (or vacant)
(v)    Lease period

(c)  whether the authorities have any mechanism in place to subsidise those youth groups which do not have sufficient funds but wish to lease the aforesaid offices?

Reply:

President,

     With reference to the three parts of the question, our reply is as follows:

(a)  There is a total of 14,382sf available on the eighth and ninth floors of the Youth Square (Y2) for leasing. Two rounds of open invitation were made to organisations/individuals from August 31 to September 25 and November 18 to December 4 respectively to submit leasing application forms for multi-function areas/offices. The leasing applications were considered by a Selection Board which comprised members of the Home Affairs Bureau and members of the Management Advisory Committee of Y2.

     Y2 primarily aims to serve as a focal point for territory-wide youth activities in Hong Kong. In this regard, priority would be given to youth organisations and non-profit-making organisations when allocating the space. The order of priority is listed below:-

(i)   Local registered non-profit-making youth organisations without independent offices
(ii)  Local registered non-profit-making youth organisations with independent offices
(iii) Local registered non-profit-making organisations with youth as primary service group
(iv)  Other local registered non-profit-making organisations
(v)   Overseas non-profit-making organisations
(vi)  Other organisations, business ventures and individuals

     The Leasing Guide was uploaded to the website of Y2. The Guide contains application procedures, background information, rental policy, floor plans and etc.  

     We received a total of 49 leasing application forms for multi-function areas/offices. The Selection Board considered the applications with reference to the above order of priority and other requirements listed on the Leasing Guide. Subsequently, 13 organisations were allocated with units.  Since the total required area in the two rounds of applications exceeds total lease area, some applicants were not allocated with units.

(b)  The areas, rentals, names of leasing groups and lease periods of various office units at Y2 are at Annex.

(c)  Y2 serves to provide facilities and venues for youth development and training activities for the enhancement of young people. It also provides offices and multi-purpose facilities for youth organisations committed to youth development.  Therefore, the affordability of youth organisations has been taken into account in the formulation of the rental policy. The oversubscription in the past two rounds of application for leasing of multi-function areas/offices indicates that the rental level is acceptable by local organisations. Rental discount has been made available to local registered non-profit-making organisations for leasing of multi-function areas/offices and there is no need to establish separate mechanism to subsidise organisations which wish to lease the said venues.

Ends/Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Issued at HKT 16:58

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