Special traffic arrangements will be implemented in Happy Valley tomorrow (April 17). The arrangements will come into effect one and a half hours before the start of the first race and will last until the crowds have dispersed after the race meeting.

A. Traffic arrangements before the commencement of the first race

1. Road closure
     
     Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Queen's Road East and the up-ramp outside Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC) will be closed except for vehicles heading for Aberdeen Tunnel.

2. Traffic diversions

– Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Village Road and the up-ramp outside HKJC will be re-routed one way northbound;
– Vehicles from eastbound Queen's Road East heading for Wan Chai and Happy Valley will be diverted to turn left to Morrison Hill Road;
– Traffic along southbound Morrison Hill Road heading for Happy Valley will be diverted via Sports Road and Wong Nai Chung Road;
– Traffic along Queen's Road East cannot turn right to Wong Nai Chung Road except for vehicles heading to Aberdeen Tunnel;
– Traffic from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Queen's Road East will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from southbound Canal Road flyover to Morrison Hill Road to turn right at the junction of Wong Nai Chung Road and Queen's Road East; and
– Traffic from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Happy Valley or Racecourse will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from southbound Canal Road flyover to Canal Road East, southbound Morrison Hill Road, Sports Road and Wong Nai Chung Road.

B. Traffic arrangements before the conclusion of race meeting

1. Road closure

     The following roads will be closed from 35 minutes before the start of the last race:

– The up-ramp on Wong Nai Chung Road outside HKJC leading to Aberdeen Tunnel;
– Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Queen's Road East and the up-ramp leading to Aberdeen Tunnel;
– Southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Village Road and the Public Stands of HKJC;
– Westbound Leighton Road between Wong Nai Chung Road and Canal Road East; and
– Southbound Morrison Hill Road between Leighton Road and Queen's Road East.

     In addition, southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between the up-ramp leading to Aberdeen Tunnel and the Public Stands of HKJC will be closed from about 10 minutes before the start of the last race.

2. Traffic diversions

     The following traffic arrangements will be implemented from 35 minutes before the start of the last race:

– Eastbound Queen's Road East at its junction with Morrison Hill Road will be reduced to one-lane traffic heading for northbound Canal Road flyover;
– Vehicles from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Wan Chai will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from Canal Road East, U-turn slip road beneath Canal Road flyover, Canal Road West and Hennessy Road;
– Vehicles from Cross Harbour Tunnel heading for Happy Valley will be diverted via the down-ramp leading from Canal Road East, eastbound Leighton Road and Wong Nai Chung Road;
– Traffic on southbound Morrison Hill Road will be diverted to turn left to eastbound Leighton Road;
– Traffic along southbound Morrison Hill Road heading for Happy Valley will be diverted via eastbound Leighton Road and Wong Nai Chung Road; and
– Traffic along westbound Leighton Road will be diverted to Wong Nai Chung Road.

C. Learner drivers prohibition

     Learner drivers will be prohibited to turn left from Caroline Hill Road to Leighton Road between one and a half hours before the start of the first race and one hour after the last race. In addition, learner drivers will be prohibited from accessing the following roads within the above period of time:

– Shan Kwong Road between Yik Yam Street and Wong Nai Chung Road;
– Village Road between its upper and lower junctions with Shan Kwong Road;
– Percival Street between Hennessy Road and Leighton Road;
– Canal Road East; and
– The service road leading from Gloucester Road to Canal Road flyover.

D. Suspension of parking spaces

     Parking spaces on southbound Wong Nai Chung Road between Sports Road and Blue Pool Road will be suspended from 11am to 7pm during day racing, from 4.30pm to 11.59pm during evening racing, and from 5pm to 11.59pm during night racing.

     Any vehicles found illegally parked within the precincts of the above affected areas will be towed away without prior notice.

     Actual implementation of road closure and traffic diversion will be made by the Police at the time depending on traffic conditions in the areas. Motorists should exercise tolerance and patience, and follow the instructions of Police on site.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

     Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (April 16) that due to big waves, the red flag has been hoisted at Silverstrand Beach in Sai Kung District. Beach-goers are advised not to swim at the beach.

     Following is the transcript of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mrs Carrie Lam, at a media session before the Executive Council meeting this morning (April 16):

Reporter: Mrs Lam, as you are trying to appeal to the lawmakers and everyone to support your fugitive proposal and also you are trying to explain to the public why it's necessary and that you are trying to help the family of the victim who died in Taiwan, we are running out of time. So what do you have to say to the family of the girl that if, because we are seeing a chance of the defendant walking free here in Hong Kong? And my second question is you mentioned that there is still room for discussion at LegCo, but you mentioned that there is something that you won’t change, could you further explain that? What's the line between things that you may give room for discussion and things that you definitely won’t change? Thank you.

Chief Executive: On your first question, as I have said previously, we are very determined to do this exercise, partly because of the compassion and empathy that we have for the family of the victim. I have not only told the family through our colleagues, I have written to the family once we had a decision on how to proceed. What I want to say is the Government will try very, very hard in order to provide the legal basis for us to proceed. But if we do not have that legal basis,we simply could not proceed. Since we have already introduced the legislation to provide that legal basis, the question now is not entirely for us, it's for the Legislative Council to also display that same sort of compassion and empathy and try to speed up the legislative exercise to give us that legal basis to proceed. I think that is also the wish of the family. As far as the room for discussion, for any piece of legislation that the Government has introduced and put to the Legislative Council for scrutiny, of course our colleagues will interact with members of the Legislative Council, listen to their views and maybe also attend public hearings to receive broader views from the community. At the end of the day, what sort of amendments to the bill that we could accept, or what sort of amendments that we could not accept, is not a question of  personal preference.  It is whether we could achieve the same objectives of that particular piece of legislation. So I would leave the details to be discussed in the Legislative Council Bills Committee.
 
Reporter: … a little bit more about the film industry initiative, because there are lots of Hong Kong people who want Hong Kong filmmakers to make films that they love to watch, and not just to do movies with Mainland people. So how would you ensure that this scheme would also make sure of that? And, as other journalists have already asked, for extradition law, if this Taiwan murder case suspect walks free, do we still need to plug the loophole, so to speak, by July? Could you explain?
 
Chief Executive: As we have said repeatedly in public, there are two purposes of amending the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance. One is of course to provide a legal basis for us to deal with the Taiwan case. The other is to plug a loophole in the existing arrangements for the return or the surrender of fugitive offenders. The first objective will have a very critical time element, and that's why we are operating under urgency to deal with this matter. But even in the very undesirable circumstances that we could not have the legal basis in time for us to deal with the Taiwan case, we still have to tackle the second objective, and that is to improve the current legal framework for us to discharge an international obligation that will help to safeguard and uphold the rule of law and justice in Hong Kong. We will continue to do that exercise since the legislation has now been introduced.
 
    About the film industry, the five measures that I have announced with the support of the Central Authorities are outstanding aspirations of the local film industry. We are responding to their aspirations and now managed to get the support of the Central Authorities. Hong Kong is very proud of our freedom of expression, and we welcome movie makers to make the best use of that freedom of expression to do a diversity of movies. But if these movies have to be screened or made in another jurisdiction, then of course they have to follow the rules and regulations of that jurisdiction.
 
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.) 
 

The following is issued on behalf of the Legislative Council Secretariat:

     The Legislative Council Secretariat (the Secretariat) today (April 16) released a Research Brief on "The 2019-2020 Budget".

     The Financial Secretary delivered his second Budget of the current-term Government on February 27 and reported an estimated fiscal surplus of HK$16.8 billion in 2019-2020, slipping from HK$58.7 billion in 2018-2019. While the surplus is the lowest since 2015-2016, budget deficit would have taken place if the Housing Reserve, amounted to HK$21.2 billion, were not taken back to the government accounts.

     Government expenditure in 2019-2020 is expected to hit HK$607.8 billion, increased by 13 per cent from the previous financial year. The ratio of government expenditure to government revenue will increase from 90 per cent in 2018-2019 to 97 per cent in 2019-2020. Based on the Government's medium range forecast, the ratio will even peak at 99 per cent from 2021-2022 and onwards, raising concern about the sustainability of the revenue sources. 

     Hong Kong's government revenue is all along known to be narrow-based and highly sensitive to economic performance. In recent years, with the increases in land sale supply and prices, land premium has made weighty contribution to government revenue at an average of 21 per cent during 2015-2020. Stamp duty has also seen rising contribution, with a notable portion deriving from a series of so-called "spicy" disincentive measures to curb the overheating property market. Although salaries tax has seen broadening base with more people being brought into the tax net, its average contribution to government revenue has declined and ageing population further poses concerns of whether salaries tax could remain a large revenue source to meet government expenditure. 

     On the other hand, profits tax is the most stable and the largest revenue item, making an average contribution of 22 per cent to 27 per cent to government revenue during various periods across 2000-2020. However, it has seen shrinking base with increasing reliance on the sector of banking, investment, finance and property.

     In view of growing expenditure needs, there remains concern whether government revenue is abundant and stable enough to sustain expenditure given the limitations of the revenue structure. Diversifying the economy is therefore crucial to strengthening government coffers and the Government has committed resources to promote the industries which are considered to be the potential growth engine, such as innovation and technology, as well as cultural and creative industries. However, the latter seemed to have lost the momentum in recent years as its economic contribution as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product has registered persistent decline from the peak of 5.1 per cent in 2013 to 4.4 per cent in 2017. It may warrant a revisit of the constraints being faced by the sector as well as the effectiveness of the support measures.

     Outside the cash-based government accounts, there are some 20 designated-purpose funds mainly funded by the Government which is also responsible for their use. These funds roughly amount to over HK$91 billion. A number of them have used government injection as seed money to generate investment income to fund projects. This suggests that a huge sum of public money is being locked up and the funding activities are to a certain extent constrained by the level of investment return, prompting concerns about the effectiveness of public resources allocation. 

     The Legislative Council will resume the Second Reading debate on the Appropriation Bill 2019 tomorrow (April 17) and Members will speak on the Bill.

     The Research Brief is prepared by the Secretariat's Research Office of the Information Services Division with a view to enhancing information support for Members. It is a concise summary aiming at explaining a subject matter which may be of interest to Members and the general public.

     The Research Brief is now available on the Legislative Council Website at www.legco.gov.hk/research-publications/english/1819rb01-the-2019-2020-budget-20190416-e.pdf.

Attention TV/radio announcers:

Please broadcast the following as soon as possible:

     Here is an item of interest to swimmers.

     The Leisure and Cultural Services Department announced today (April 16) that due to big waves, the red flag has been hoisted at Hap Mun Bay Beach in Sai Kung District. Beach-goers are advised not to swim at the beach.