The Executive Council would discuss a proposed non-mandatory provident fund scheme soon after its final study on the subject, which could see its introduction next year. This was disclosed today by the Chief Executive, Mr Edmund Ho Hau Wah, when he answered legislators' questions on government policies and other issues during the plenary meeting of the Legislative Assembly. Mr Ho said the Government had decided not to launch a mandatory scheme but a voluntary one instead, adding that the formula for non-compulsory contributions from employers and the labour sectors would be opened for public discussion. He said the Government would contribute a sum of money from the revenue at the launch of the new scheme. Aside from the non-compulsory contributions, a reasonable percentage would be retained from the revenue annually for every contributor. He also said the nature of fund would be "portable", meaning it would "follow" contributors when they changed jobs. Mr Ho said the Government has no intension to change the existing social welfare system, but the existing and new scheme together would benefit more people, especially the elderly. On housing, Mr Ho said that basically from now on, the Government would build housing for Home-Ownership Scheme and public housing units on its own rather than in co-operation with private developers. He said that the business cycle of real estate market and other factors would influence private developers' pace to carry out public housing projects. By building on its own the public's needs for housing would be met in a timely manner, he said.
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