The financial chief is spending $2.4 million of taxpayers' money on a face-lift for his official residence, the Government has disclosed.
The expenditure includes air-conditioning maintenance, replacing flooring, painting and renewing electrical installations and the security system.
The acknowledgment followed a press report that Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung was spending up to $4 million to decorate the colonial-style villa in Shouson Hill Road before moving in. But the Government said yesterday it estimated the cost at $2.4 million.
The cost is understood to be the lowest amount spent on refurbishing an official residence.
The 6,000-square-foot house was last renovated six years ago when former financial secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen moved in. He recently moved into the Chief Secretary for Administration's residence in Barker Road, the Peak, after it had a $4 million facelift.
Independent legislator Leung Yiu-chung said he hoped the financial chief was not wasting taxpayers' money. 'I think the rule should be to be as thrifty as possible. It's unacceptable for officials to say they share the economic pain with the public while spending public funds in an extravagant manner.'