Financial Secretary of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) John Tsang said on Wednesday the government would provide additional funding to provide various types of jobs.

Delivering the budget for the fiscal year 2009-2010 at the Legislative Council, Tsang said he would provide an additional 1.1 billion HK dollars non-recurrent funding to provide various types of jobs.

According to Tsang, the measures include introducing a two-year "Operation Building Bright" campaign for maintenance of 1,000 dilapidated buildings. The campaign will create 10,000 jobs in the next two years.

"I will earmark 100 million HK dollars to assist organizers to host more attractive events in the areas of arts, culture and sports over the next three years to further promote Hong Kong as an events capital of Asia", said Tsang.

This will help attract more tourists, stimulate consumption and promote economic development. It was expected that such activities will create some 2,800 jobs, he said.

Tsang said 78 million HK dollars would be allocated to promote and organize community involvement activities and to publicize the 2009 East Asian Games.

As the year of 2009 marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong will join with various sectors of the community to organize a number of celebration activities. These activities will create about 260 jobs.

"I will earmark 63 million HK dollars to conduct a one-year education program to teach Internet users, especially young students, how to use the Internet appropriately and safely," said Tsang,

"It is expected that this program will create about 500 jobs." he added.

And an additional 130 million HK dollars will be allocated to carry out works to enhance energy efficiency of government buildings and public facilities. It is expected that this measure will create some 200 jobs while helping to improve the quality of public buildings.

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2009)