ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 707 - NEW TOWNS AND URBAN AREA DEVELOPMENT

Kowloon Development

(Civil Engineering - Land development)

441CL - Land formation for supplementary public rental housing site

- Lei Yue Mun

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee -

(a) the upgrading of part of 441CL, entitled "Land formation for supplementary public rental housing site at Lei Yue Mun", to Category A at an estimated cost of $63.5 million in money-of-the-day prices; and

(b) the retention of the remainder of 441CL in Category B, retitled "Construction of box culvert along Shung Shun Street, Lei Yue Mun".

PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION

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PROBLEM

There is a shortage of land in Kowloon East to meet the demand for public housing.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Territory Development, with the support of the Secretary for Housing and the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, proposes to upgrade part of 441CL to Category A at an estimated cost of $63.5 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for the formation of a supplementary public rental housing site at Lei Yue Mun.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The full scope of 441CL comprises-

(a) site formation for about 1.7 hectares of housing platform;

(b) construction of associated drainage works including a twin cell box culvert and a cascade;

(c) slope stabilization works at Devil's Peak; and

(d) construction of a twin cell box culvert along Shung Shun Street.

4. The part of 441CL we now propose to upgrade to Category A comprises the works referred to in paragraph 3(a) to (c) above.

JUSTIFICATION

5. In 1993, the Housing Authority identified a projected shortfall of 52 hectares of land required for public housing development up to 2001. In June 1993, the Development Progress Committee approved the proposed site at Lei Yue Mun as one of the sites required to meet part of the shortfall. Subsequently the Director of Housing incorporated the housing project in Lei Yue Mun into the Public Housing Development Programme.

6. We plan to form about 1.7 hectares of housing platform at the Lei Yue Mun site. Upon completion of the housing platform, we could build three public housing blocks comprising about 2 300 residential flats to accommodate some 8 200 persons.

7. In order to meet the target of providing the public housing blocks by 2001, we need to hand over the site to the Director of Housing in late March 1998 to start the construction works. To tie in with the programme, we plan to start the site formation works in October 1996 for completion in March 1998.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

8. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $63.5 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 9 below), made up as follows -

9. Subject to approval, we will phase the expenditure as follows -

10. We have derived the MOD estimate on the basis of the Government's forecasts of trend labour and construction prices over the period between 1996 and 1999. We will tender the works under a fixed price re-measurement contract because the project involves earthworks, the quantities of which are subject to variation depending on actual ground conditions. As the contract period is less than 21 months, the contract will not provide for adjustments to the tender price due to inflation.

11. We estimate the project's annually recurrent expenditure to be $327,000.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

12. In January 1996, we consulted the Housing Committee of the Kwun Tong District Board on the proposed works. The Committee had no objection to the proposal.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

13. The Director of Environmental Protection completed an Environmental Review for the project in March 1994 and concluded that there would be no long term environmental impacts and no environmental impact assessment would be necessary. For short term impacts, we will include pollution control clauses in the contract to control noise, dust and site run-off nuisances during construction.

LAND ACQUISITION

14. The project does not require land resumption. However, the Director of Lands will clear several patches of cultivated land which are mainly crops and trees within the project boundary. In case there are claims for ownership rights of these crops and trees, we have made a provision of $110,000 for this purpose. We will charge the necessary amount to Head 701-Land Acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

15. In 1987, we formed an interdepartmental Working Group on Housing Sites to determine the feasibility and the programming of the provision of supplementary housing sites in the territory. In July 1989, the Working Group agreed to use a number of sites including the proposed site at Lei Yue Mun for public housing development.

16. We upgraded 441CL to Category B in August 1995. The Director of Civil Engineering has completed the detailed design and drawings using in-house staff. The proposed works are scheduled to start in October 1996 for completion in March 1998.

17. We plan to implement the remainder of 441CL, estimated to cost $15.7 million at December 1995 prices, in May 1998 for completion in April 2000.

(LL79)

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