Chief Executive Donald Tsang has pledged to pursue excellence in governance, not only in the high-level decision making process, but also in public service.

Touring the Leisure & Cultural Services Department's facilities today and meeting frontline officers, Mr Tsang said: "Customer satisfaction is the driving force behind continuous improvement." He encouraged the officers to be innovative in re-engineering their services.

Since its establishment in 2000, the department has taken on new responsibilities and provided new services.

Performance check: Chief Executive Donald Tsang tries the Central Library's Multimedia Information System, chats with a youngster and inspects water quality checks at Victoria Park swimming pool.

Win-win situation

Mr Tsang was briefed on its management of ancillary facilities, which have seen 180 revenue contracts and received over $250 million in rent in the past two years.

"This is a win-win situation. Not only can these ancillary facilities contribute to public revenue, their operation provides value-added services to customers and adds character to our leisure and cultural venues," he said, adding more private sector co-operation can be brought into this area in future.

Mr Tsang toured the Central Library and was shown the Multimedia Information System, one of the largest bilingual digital library systems in the world, and the Language Learning Centre.

He then inspected Victoria Park swimming pool, and was briefed on improvement plans for it and the tennis centre.