The Hong Kong government’s proposed adjustment to the controversial HK$2 (25 US cents) transport subsidy scheme for the elderly will fail to tackle the deficit and instead alienate this demographic, a social policy expert has said.
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Nelson Chow Wing-sun, an emeritus professor at University of Hong Kong’s department of social work and social administration, expressed his concerns to the Post, a day after sources said the government might cap the HK$2 concessionary fare scheme for the elderly to 240 times per month.
Users of the scheme could also be required to cover 20 per cent of the usual fare for trips costing more than HK$10, which was expected to save the government between HK$100 million and HK$300 million a year, insiders said on Friday.
“This review is absolutely unfair to the elderly who will need to pay more to take long-haul trips. The government needs to rethink this idea,” Chow said on Saturday.
He said that introducing the changes would not help ease the deficit as the savings of a few hundred million dollars a year only accounted for a very tiny percentage of the deficit.
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“Instead, this will upset the elderly whose welfare has been undermined,” he said.