The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government will earmark 29 billion HK dollars (US$3.7 billion) a year on average for infrastructure projects in the next five years, Financial Secretary Henry Tang said Wednesday.

Presenting the government's 2006-2007 budget to the Legislative Council, he said about 14,000 new construction jobs are expected to be created in the coming year.

He said the government will commence as soon as possible the major projects under planning, such as the North Lantau Highway Connection to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the Central Government Complex and LegCo Building at Tamar.

These will create more construction employment opportunities and ensure that public works expenditure will remain stable over the next few years. Meanwhile, the community is engaged in discussing the plans for other large-scale projects, including KaiTak Development and the Central-Wan Chai Bypass.

He said the government's fiscal targets are to keep its accounts in balance and the share of public expenditure in the gross domestic product (GDP) at 20 percent or below over the next few years. For 2006-07, public expenditure is forecast at around 18 percent of GDP, lower than most other developed economies.

Tang said the government would have liked to develop more parks, piazzas, open space and cultural and heritage sites.

He said the government attaches great importance to the prevention and control of infectious diseases. The government will continue its efforts to prevent the outbreak of avian influenza and has begun stockpiling antivirals. In the case of outbreaks, all necessary resources will be made available.

(Xinhua News Agency February 22, 2006)