The Legislative Council’s Finance Committee approved all Hong Kong government funding applications over the four-year term, with its chairman on Tuesday defending lawmakers’ role in scrutinising the 261 projects worth nearly HK$700 billion (US$89.7 billion) in total.
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Committee chairman Ronick Chan Chun-ying also said that some government departments had failed to provide precise data requested by lawmakers during their scrutiny of the budget, urging authorities to step up data collection and analysis.
At an end-of-session briefing, the committee revealed that it had approved 261 proposals over four years, amounting to HK$697.2 billion (US$89.66 billion). Only 100 proposals, or 38 per cent, required committee discussions, totalling 155 hours and 18 minutes, or 1½ hours per item on average.
In 2025, the committee passed 67 financial proposals, worth HK$126.8 billion, with deliberations averaging 1 hour and 29 minutes per item.
Chan stressed that the committee thoroughly reviewed all funding applications, and approvals were not “guaranteed”.
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“I do not think all the funding proposals being approved by the Finance Committee mean we do not have scrutiny at all. Some of the lobbying and analysis were done behind closed doors,” Chan said.
“Superficially asking just a few-minute questions does not mean you have a different opinion on specific projects.”