Urban Renewal Authority 2018-19 Annual Report

163 (expressed in Hong Kong Dollars) NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 18. Debt securities issued (Continued) 2019 2018 $’000 $’000 Current portion HK dollar Fixed rate notes with coupon of 1.75% due 2019 500,000 – HK dollar Fixed rate notes with coupon of 1.65% due 2020 500,000 – Less: Unamortised debt securities issuing costs (474) – 999,526 – 19. Provision for a committed project 2019 2018 $’000 $’000 Balance at 1 April – 35,000 Reversed during the year – (35,000) Balance at 31 March – – The amount represents the provision for committed projects where acquisition was commenced before financial year end. The provision charged is recognised in profit or loss. 20. Reserve for Facilitation Service Fee paid by the owners and the purchasers to the Urban Redevelopment Facilitating Services Company Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Authority, is originally set aside in a reserve account for other facilitation projects. This arrangement has ceased during the year ended 31 March 2019 and the balance of the reserve account was transferred to the accumulated surplus accordingly. 21. Provident fund scheme The Group provides retirement benefits to its eligible employees under defined contribution schemes. In accordance with the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Ordinance, the eligible employees enjoy retirement benefits under the Mandatory Provident Fund Exempted ORSO Scheme or the Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme (the “Schemes”) under which employer’s voluntary contributions have been made. The assets of the Schemes are held separately from those of the Group and managed by independent administrators. The Group normally makes voluntary contributions ranging from 5% to 10% of the employees’ monthly salaries depending on the years of service of the employees. The total amount contributed by the Group into the Schemes for the year ended 31 March 2019 was $26,394,000 (2017/18: $25,195,000), net of forfeitures of $1,726,000 (2017/18: $2,131,000), which has been charged to the Group’s profit or loss for the year.