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Threat to sandwich class plan

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PRESSURE is mounting among legislators to reject a $2 billion housing subsidy scheme for sandwich class flat buyers in the first challenge to Financial Secretary Mr Hamish Macleod's Budget.

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At least two liberal groups are planning to submit alternative proposals to the $2 billion scheme this week to Mr Macleod and the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, Mr Tony Eason.

The United Democrats of Hongkong (UDHK), which also has strong reservations about the proposal, is drawing up its housing plan.

Legislators are hinting they will consider voting down the funding application if the Government fails to address their concerns.

The proposed scheme covers too few families, they say, and the money would end up in the pockets of private developers instead of the needy.

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The Financial Secretary announced an injection of $2 billion in the Housing Society to provide subsidies for 3,000 first-time flat buyers with a monthly income of between $20,000 and $40,000, the so-called ''sandwich class''.

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