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Following is the transcript (English portion) of the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Tsang Tak-sing, at a media stand-up today (December 14) on Hong Kong to bid to host the 2023 Asian Games:
Reporter: Why did you decide to bid for the games, and how would you put it to the legislators that this is the best way to spend billions of dollars in tax payers' resource?
Secretary for Home Affairs: From our public consultation, we did receive a lot of inputs supporting the bid for the Asian Games. We are planning for $6 billion as the direct cost for hosting the Asian Games in 2023. We have the confidence that Hong Kong has the financial capability for the games. We will be spending about $30 billion on sports facilities. These sports facilities are strongly demanded and requested by the community for the development of sports in Hong Kong.
Reporter: So why do we need the Asian Games to spend the money? If people want these facilities......
Secretary for Home Affairs: We will go ahead with constructing sports facilities in Hong Kong for the community. Hosting the Asian Games is part of our efforts to promote sports, both for elite sports and community sports in Hong Kong.
Reporter: What do we get back from the $6 billion expenditure...... What is the return?
Secretary for Home Affairs: There are economic returns and also intangible returns, which will be very important, not only for the future of Hong Kong, but also for the cohesion of the society, for the well-being of the community, and for the development of sports and healthy life style. All these are intangible benefits but extremely valuable.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Issued at HKT 21:30
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