HK$150 million subsidy allocated for 2,500 graduates in Hong Kong construction
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The council, a statutory body representing the construction sector, said on Monday that the scheme is intended to help businesses in difficult times by subsidising consultancy firms and main contractors to train employees who graduated from five professional disciplines.
'The government will boost its capital works expenditure in the coming five years. Despite a declining trend in the private market, I believe we still have a manpower demand and our scheme can take care of the 2,500 graduates,' Albert Cheng Ting-ning, the council's executive director, said.
Announced in the annual budget last month, the government will issue bonds to raise funds as it expects the annual capital works expenditure to increase from HK$90 billion to HK$120 billion on average in the coming five financial years.
The government will issue bonds to raise funds as it expects the annual capital works expenditure to increase from HK$90 billion to HK$120 billion on average in the coming five financial years. Photo: Dickson Lee
In recent years, there has been a lukewarm response from developers in bidding for government land, prompting lay-offs within architectural firms and business loss in some surveying companies.
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The council's scheme, also announced in the budget, targets graduates of engineering, architecture, surveying, planning and landscape architecture disciplines, who are aged 35 or below and have yet to obtain professional qualifications or receive similar subsidies.
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