2021.04.15
In early March, DAB Legislative Councillor Vincent CHENG with representatives from Federation of Hong Kong, Kowloon New Territories Hawker Associations urged the authorities to relaunch the subsidy scheme for contactless payment in public markets on a press conference and in a meeting with representatives of the Food and Health Bureau (FHB). The subsidy scheme ended in December last year and its relaunch can be tied in with the implementation of electronic consumption vouchers. In answering Vincent’s question at a special meeting of the Finance Committee, the Bureau said the scheme will be relaunched within this month. Vincent welcomed the relaunch of the scheme and expected the authorities to better promote the scheme to traders and also benefit the hawkers in hawker stalls managed by the FHB.
According to information provided by the government, eligible stall hawkers could receive a one-off grant of $5,000 to install contactless payment devices under the subsidy scheme launched in October last year. A total of 2,700 out of 3,500 applications were approved, 2,700 electronic payment systems were installed with the amount of $13.5 million subsidy disbursed.
On the other hand, Vincent was informed that one of the authorized stored value facility operators is going to waive transaction fees for six months after the issuance of electronic consumption vouchers. He urged the authorities to request the other three authorized operators to follow suit.