The LegCo Reporter
2003-2004 		Issue No. 27 (17 June 2004)


At its meeting on 16 June 2004, the Legislative Council passed the following bill:
At the same meeting, the Council passed the following three resolutions:

(1)Resolution moved by the Secretary for Economic Development and Labour under the Interpretation and General Clauses Ordinance.

(2)Resolution moved by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury under the Public Finance Ordinance.

(3)Resolution moved by the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury under the Airport Authority Ordinance.


The following two motions with no legislative effect were also passed by the Council:

(1)Motion on "Review of land policy", moved by Hon Abraham SHEK Lai-him as amended by Hon IP Kwok-him

"That, as land is a precious asset possessed by all people of Hong Kong and is also an important source of revenue for the Government, and given that the West Kowloon Cultural District development project involves substantial subsidy in the form of 40 hectares of land (as large as 50 standard soccer pitches), this Council urges the Administration to critically review its policy, which is a remnant of the colonial era, of subsidizing commercially operated infrastructural projects in the form of land, based on the principle that, apart from ensuring an adequate supply of land for public housing development and other developments compatible with the public interest, the supply of land should be determined by the market according to demands and prices, in order that the Government can, through fair market competition, gain the maximum financial benefits, avoid disorderly development and the loss of public funds, safeguard public interest and maintain market stability."

(2)Motion on "Promoting Hong Kong as a world-class financial services and asset management centre", moved by Hon Ambrose LAU Hon-chuen

"That, to achieve the goal mentioned by the Chief Executive in this year's Policy Address to develop Hong Kong into an international financial services and asset management centre such as Switzerland, this Council urges the Government to expeditiously and widely consult the views of the industry and other sectors, and to implement a series of measures to strengthen the competitive edge of Hong Kong's financial industry, including enhancing manpower training, improving the English standard of Hong Kong people, upgrading the financial infrastructure, as well as studying the provision of more tax concessions, so as to provide the entire Asia with high value-added services in fund management, corporate investment management, personal banking, insurance sales and various investment and savings instruments."