Space for a crowd in Legco has a high price
Want to meet your elected representatives in the legislature for a couple of hours after work? You may have to think again if you want to do it as part of a group.
A room large enough to seat 50 people has been made available in the Legco Building for just such a purpose. But lawmakers will be billed as much as $2,000 if they want to use it outside office hours.
The Legislative Council Commission will allow use of the press-conference room - the only one available to members meeting a crowd larger than a handful of constituents - outside normal meeting hours if they pay. The room has until now been closed to the public. Smaller rooms can be used by members free of charge.
Legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing, of The Frontier, is a member of the commission which oversees the daily operation of the legislature. She said she had proposed allowing legislators to use the room to afford them more convenience.
'Other commission members thought legislators should pay under the user-pays principle ... [but] who can afford such money for holding a meeting?' Ms Lau said.
She said the lack of adequate facilities for members to meet larger groups on weekends or in the evening was a problem for legislators, since they usually found it difficult to obtain the use of such facilities themselves.
A spokesman for the Legco Secretariat said the decision was made by the commission. 'It was not a plan to make money.'
A typical two-hour meeting in the room on weekday evenings, Saturday afternoons, Sundays or public holidays will cost a legislator more than $2,000.
The sum comprises $20 for lighting, $60 per hour for air-conditioning, $560 to pay an Electrical and Mechanical Services Department technician, $450 for security services and $913 for microphone broadcast.
