Lawmakers vote down HK$6b funding for new RTHK headquarters
Critics say new headquarters too costly; officials say broadcaster's development will be hindered
Plans to expand Radio Television Hong Kong suffered a setback yesterday when lawmakers rejected a HK$6.1 billion proposal to build a new headquarters for the public broadcaster, saying it was too costly.
Officials expressed disappointment and said the rejection could hinder RTHK's development of digital radio and TV broadcasting, which is already lagging.
Most pro-establishment lawmakers at a meeting of the Legislative Council's public works subcommittee opposed the budget request, which was nearly four times the previous estimate of HK$1.6 billion in 2009. It was voted down by 10 votes to 15.
One pan-democrat who supported the project suggested the government had put forward a seemingly unacceptable request in the hope it would be vetoed, since RTHK current affairs programmes had been highly critical of it.
The government can still put the proposal to the full Finance Committee at a later date. But unless the funding is approved by March 20, the present quotation will expire and another round of tendering will be needed, leading to further delay and higher costs because of inflation and rising construction labour wages.
At the centre of the dispute is a long-overdue plan to build a new headquarters for RTHK in Tseung Kwan O to expand its services as part of its promised mission to fulfil the role of a public service broadcaster. The services would include 24-hour television news, enhanced digital audio broadcasting and digital terrestrial television.
RTHK plans to launch digital terrestrial broadcasts in 2018 and trials are under way. Households already receiving digital TV should be able to receive the trial signal once they have tuned their televisions to show the RTHK channel.