Plan to splash HK$20 billion on property for care facilities announced in Paul Chan’s 2019 budget
- City struggles with serious shortages of facilities for the elderly, children and the disabled
- Financial secretary says administration will buy 60 properties to house 130 venues
A bold proposal in this year’s budget to spend HK$20 billion on private units and convert them into service facilities for about 86,000 people is expected to ease a long-term shortage of space for caring for the elderly and children in Hong Kong.
Announcing the plan on Wednesday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the government would buy 60 properties, to house 130 facilities.
A government source said officials would look at units in the space-starved city with sizes ranging from a few hundred square feet to 5,000 sq ft, such as those in commercial buildings.
Explaining the benefits of buying existing properties, the source said: “If we are building from scratch, it could take more than 10 years.”
The facilities will include day childcare centres, elderly activity centres providing community services for healthy elderly people, and on-site preschool rehabilitation services where psychologists and speech therapists help preschool children with mild disabilities.