The senior management of three statutory bodies account for a quarter or more of the total salaries bill for their organisations, the government said yesterday.
The Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation's eight senior executives, who comprise 5.5 per cent of the staff, are paid 29.7 per cent of total wages, or $18.7 million a year.
The Urban Renewal Authority's 14 highest-ranking staff members, who also comprise 5.5 per cent of employees, receive 24 per cent of a $139 million wages bill, taking home $33.9 million a year.
The Securities and Futures Commission's 42 most senior employees, who comprise 9 per cent of its staff, received $92 million last year - 27 per cent of the total wages paid across the organisation, which ceased to obtain government funding in 1993.
The figures were disclosed by Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho Chi-ping yesterday in the Legislative Council.
Dr Ho was responding to a question from legislator Alan Leong Kah-kit, who said he had been trying to pin government officials down on specific figures regarding pay scales in statutory bodies for six months.