He says a home for his fish will beautify Government House
Spending $300,000 on a new home for his pet carp at Government House would beautify the colonial mansion, the chief executive said yesterday in response to criticism.
Legislators said Donald Tsang Yam-kuen should pay for the work - part of a $14.5 million renovation project - from his own pocket. But he said he was only following the precedent of the mansion's previous occupants, and called the renovation economical.
'There is a tradition that whenever a new governor or chief executive moves in, they conduct some landscape improvement work ... I want to use this opportunity to propose there should be a fish pond, and the designer also believes it is appropriate to integrate it with the present design,' he said.
'I believe as future residents of Government House will also be Chinese, it is appropriate to have a fish pond in this great mansion.'
He said late governor Lord MacLehose had a swimming pool built when he took up residence in 1979, his successor Lord Wilson had a pergola built in 1987 and Chris Patten had alterations made to create more bedrooms.
Even former chief executive Tung Chee-hwa renovated the kitchen and turned the governor's office into a Japanese-style drawing room despite never living in the 150-year-old mansion, the official residence of Hong Kong's head of government, Mr Tsang said.