Replies to initial written questions raised by Finance Committee Members in examining the Estimates of Expenditure 2012-13 Director of Bureau : Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Session No. 12 File name : cedb(cit)- doc
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- Examination of Estimates of Expenditure 2012-13
Question : Under this Programme, the estimated provision for 2012-13 is $18.2 million (13.4%) lower than the revised estimate for 2011-12, mainly due to the anticipated decrease of cash flow requirement for the Mega Events Fund. Would the Administration inform this Committee of the current balance of the Fund? Could it cater for the applications next year? Would there be any provision earmarked for the Fund? What were the amounts approved for each financial year since the establishment of the Fund? What were the events which had been rejected last year and what were the reasons? Asked by : Hon. CHAN Mo-po, Paul Reply : The Mega Events Fund (MEF) was established in 2009, following funding approval of the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council (LegCo). Since its inception, six rounds of applications have been invited and a total sum of $51.3 million has been granted to support 16 mega events. The three-year funding approved by LegCo will expire by the end of March 2012. The estimated expenditure for the MEF in 2012-13 is $8.7 million. This amount is reserved for paying the outstanding balance in respect of those MEF supported events completed before the end of March 2012 and is therefore less than that in 2011-12. After deducting this amount, the remaining balance of the MEF (around $40 million) will lapse automatically. In his 2012-13 Budget, the Financial Secretary has proposed to allocate another $150 million to the MEF and extend its operation for five years. The MEF Assessment Committee is studying ways of giving the MEF more flexibility to facilitate its effective operation. We wish to finalise detailed modus operandi of the new scheme and consult the Economic Development Panel of LegCo on the proposal as soon as possible. Our plan is to seek funding approval from the Finance Committee within this legislative year. The total amounts granted to MEF supported events in the past three financial years were $11.9 million, $18.1 million, and $21.3 million respectively. In the past three financial years, there were 21, 13 and eight unsuccessful applications to the MEF respectively. The MEF has a strict and open assessment mechanism. The MEF Assessment Committee considers all the applications in detail. Successful applications must fulfil certain basic criteria. For instance, the proposed event must be an arts, cultural or sports event; the organiser(s) must be local non-profit-making organisation(s); and the number of participants in the proposed event must exceed 10 000. To pass the assessment, the proposed event is also required to attain passing marks for each of the assessment criteria including economic benefits, publicity benefits, scale of the event, technical and financial feasibility, as well as the applicants’ event management capabilities etc. The MEF Assessment Committee has been assessing each of the applications carefully in accordance with the open assessment mechanism. Applications failing to meet any of the assessment criteria will be rejected. It is the established practice for the MEF Assessment Committee not to disclose the identity of unsuccessful applicants or the details of their applications without the consent of the applicants. Nevertheless, the Secretariat of the MEF Assessment Committee will notify unsuccessful applicants individually and give an account of the reasons for their unsuccessful applications upon request, with a view to assisting the applicants to make improvements in future applications.
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