For discussion
on 20 January 1999

PWSC(98-99)58

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Education - Tertiary/other
89ET - Special school in Yau Tong

    Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 89ET to Category A at an estimated cost 73.7 million in money-of-the-day prices for the reprovisioning of the Ngau Tau Kok Holy Word School from Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate to Yau Tong.

PROBLEM

The existing Ngau Tau Kok Holy Word School (NTKHWS) at Block 5 of Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate is due for demolition in August 2002 under the Housing Authority's Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Architectural Services (D Arch S), with the support of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, proposes to upgrade 89ET to Category A at an estimated cost of $73.7 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for the reprovisioning of the NTKHWS from Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate to Yau Tong.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The scope of the reprovisioning project comprises the construction of a new special school with 100 places for moderately mentally handicapped children. The new school building will have the following facilities -

  1. ten classrooms;

  2. eight special rooms;

  3. two remedial teaching rooms;

  4. three speech therapy rooms;

  5. two interview rooms;

  6. a staff room and a staff common room;

  7. a student activity centre;

  8. a library;

  9. a conference room;

  10. an assembly hall cum gymnasium;

  11. a multi-purpose area; and

  12. ancillary accommodation including a lift and relevant facilities for the handicapped.

JUSTIFICATION

4. The NTKHWS currently provides 100 school places for moderately mentally handicapped children. According to the Housing Authority's Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme for Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate, the school presently situated in Block 5 of the Estate will have to be demolished by August 2002. We need to reprovision the school in time to maintain an adequate provision of school places for moderately mentally handicapped students and to prevent disruption to the educational services provided by the NTKHWS.

5. The provision of special school places for moderately mentally handicapped students is planned on a territory-wide basis. In practice, in deciding the location for the reprovisioning of an existing special school, the Director of Education (D of E) takes into account the demand for such school places in different regions. The aim is to achieve a more even distribution of school places among different regions as far as possible. Based on the latest population statistics, D of E forecasts that the demand for school places for moderately mentally handicapped children will be 560 in the Kowloon region by 2001. At present, the supply of such places in the region is 600. As NTKHWS is the only school for moderately mentally handicapped children in the Kwun Tong District, we propose to reprovision the NTKHWS within the same district from Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate to Yau Tong to provide adequate places for moderately mentally handicapped children in Kowloon overall.

6. To tie in with the overall public housing development in Yau Tong, we will entrust the construction of the school to the Housing Authority (HA).

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

7. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $73.7 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 8 below), made up as follows -

$ million
(a) Piling7.2
(b) Building29.5
(c) Building services7.5
(d) Drainage and external works5.8
(e) Furniture and equipment4.4
(f) Contingencies5.0
(g) 2% Housing Authority on-cost1.1
_____
Sub-total60.5(at December 1997 prices)
(h) Provision for price adjustment13.2
_____
Total73.7(in MOD prices)
_____

The construction floor area of 89ET is 5 328 square metres. The construction unit cost, represented by building and building services costs, is $6,944 per square metre at December 1997 prices. D Arch S considers this construction unit cost reasonable when compared with similar projects built by government.

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

Year$ million
(Dec 1997)		Price
adjustment
factor 		$ million
(MOD)
1999 - 200010.31.1289011.6
2000 - 0128.01.1966333.5
2001 - 0215.81.2684320.0
2002 - 036.41.344548.6
_____ _____
60.573.7
_____ _____


9. We derived the MOD estimates on the basis of Government's latest forecast of trend labour and construction prices for the period 1999 to 2003. The proposed school forms part of a podium block which is a link between Phase 3 and Phase 5 of the Yau Tong Estate redevelopment. One of the Phase 5 housing blocks will also be located above this podium. HA will include the foundation and building works as part of the respective housing estate development contracts. The Director of Housing (D of H) will tender the piling works under a fixed-price lump-sum contract and the building works on a lump-sum basis with provision for price fluctuation because the contract period for the building works for the housing development will be longer than 21 months.

10. The reprovisioned school will operate the same number of classes as the existing school (10 classes). No additional annually recurrent expenditure will be incurred.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

11. We consulted the Social Services Committee of the Kwun Tong Provisional District Board in November 1998. Members supported the project.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

12. D of H completed the Preliminary Environment Review (PER) for 89ET in May 1998. The Director of Environmental Protection vetted the PER and concluded that we should implement the following environmental mitigation measures to keep the impact of traffic noise on the proposed school within the limits stipulated in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines -

  1. construction of a 3-metre high solid wall on the eastern site boundary along Lei Yue Mun Road;

  2. provision of insulated windows to the library on 1/F at the north-western facade of the school block; and

  3. provision of insulated windows and air-conditioning to two classrooms on the 3/F at the eastern facade of the school block.

We have included $600,000 in the project estimate to implement the above mitigation measures.

13. We will control noise, dust and site run-off nuisances during construction through the implementation of appropriate mitigation measures under the relevant contracts.

LAND ACQUISITION

14. The project does not require land acquisition.

Background INFORMATION

15. We upgraded 89ET to Category B in September 1998. D of H has completed site investigations for the project and is in the process of preparing the detailed working drawings and tender documents using in-house staff resources. To tie in with the programme of Yau Tong Estate redevelopment, D of H plans to start the construction works of 89ET in February 1999 for completion in June 2001. The existing NTKHWS will remain in operation at Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate and be relocated to the new premises in Yau Tong upon its completion in June 2001.

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Education and Manpower Bureau
January 1999
(PWSC0045/WIN2)