The Food & Environmental Hygiene Department today said that ex-gratia payments have been granted to the licensees affected by the cancellation of the 2022 Lunar New Year fairs and the Fong Ma Po New Year Fair.

The Government decided to cancel the Lunar New Year fairs at 15 locations and the Fong Ma Po New Year Fair in Tai Po in view of the developments of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Apart from arranging full refunds of the stall licence fees for successful stall bidders in accordance with the licence agreement, ex-gratia payments pitched at 50% of the stall licence fees were also granted to them under the fifth round of the Anti-epidemic Fund.

All payments have been mailed to the affected licensees in crossed cheques without the need for any application.

All 950 stalls at the 15 Lunar New Year fairs and the Fong Ma Po New Year Fair at Lam Tsuen were let out through open auction. Based on the total auction amount of around $12.06 million, the ex-gratia payments disbursed amounted to over $6.03 million.

As for the 2022 Che Kung Festival Fair which was also cancelled, the department aims to arrange full refunds of the stall licence fees and disburse the ex-gratia payments, pitched at 50% of the stall licence fees, for the 42 successful stall bidders within this week.

The payments amount to over $590,000, it added.