For discussion PWSC(97-98)38
on 4 June 1997
ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE OF FINANCE COMMITTEE
HEAD 706 - HIGHWAYS
Transport - Roads
561TH - Widening of Tolo Highway between Island House interchange and Ma Liu Shui interchange
- the upgrading of part of 561TH to Category A, entitled "Widening of Tolo Highway between Island House interchange and Ma Liu Shui interchange - detailed design and ground investigation", at an estimated cost of $49.6 million in money-of-the-day prices; and
- the retention of the remaining part of 561TH in Category B.
PROBLEM
The section of Tolo Highway between the Island House interchange at Tai Po and the Ma Liu Shui interchange at Sha Tin is unable to cope with future traffic demand. Also, the existing emergency telephone system on the Highway is near the end of its serviceable life and there is no closed circuit television (CCTV) system to enable efficient traffic management and speedy response to incidents.
PROPOSAL
2. The Director of Highways, with the support of the Secretary for Transport, proposes to upgrade part of 561TH to Category A at an estimated cost of $49.6 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices to employ consultants to undertake the detailed design of the widening of the section of Tolo Highway between Island House interchange and Ma Liu Shui interchange and the associated ground investigation, and to entrust the detailed design of the CCTV and emergency telephone systems along this section of the Highway to the Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services (DEMS).
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
3. The scope of works for 561TH includes -
- providing one additional lane in each direction of Tolo Highway between the Island House interchange and the Ma Liu Shui interchange and improvements to the existing road curves of this section of the Highway;
- providing a CCTV system and a new emergency telephone system along the same section of the Highway;
- widening the existing cycle track along the same section of the Highway from 4.5 metres to 6.0 metres and providing a 2.5 metres wide footpath on the seaward side of the cycle track;
- reclamation and seawall construction for the road widening and the necessary construction works areas;
- widening or extending existing vehicular bridges and pedestrian/cyclist subways;
- implementing the mitigation measures recommended in the Environmental Impact Assessment and Drainage Impact Assessment studies; and
- landscape works and pedestrian and cyclist facilities.
4. The part of the project we now propose to upgrade to Category A comprises -
- the detailed design of the widening of Tolo Highway between the Island House interchange and the Ma Liu Shui interchange to be carried out by consultants;
- the detailed design of the CCTV and emergency telephone systems to be carried out by DEMS; and
- the associated ground investigation.
JUSTIFICATION
5. The Tolo Highway is a strategic road link serving the Northeast New Territories and cross border traffic. The average daily traffic on the Highway has been growing at a rate of about 18% per annum in recent years. As we anticipate that the traffic demand on the Highway will continue to grow, we need to improve the road capacity by widening the section of the Highway between the Island House interchange and the Ma Liu Shui interchange from dual-3 lane to dual-4 lane by the year 2001. The following table shows the projected volume/capacity (V/C) ratios 1 for the year 2001 during the morning peak hours with and without the proposed widening -
|
|
V/C ratio (Year 2001)
|
|---|
|
|
South-
bound
|
North-
bound
|
|---|
|
(a) Without the proposed road widening
|
AM
|
1.32
|
1.04 |
|
(b) With the proposed road widening
|
AM
|
1.00
|
0.78 |
1 A V/C ratio less than 1.0 means that the road has sufficient capacity to cope with the volume of traffic under consideration.
6. There is no CCTV system on Tolo Highway to monitor traffic flow and identify incidents. Also, the existing emergency telephone system on the Highway was commissioned in 1985 and is near the end of its serviceable life. As part of the road widening project, we intend to install on this section of the Highway a CCTV system for speedy response to traffic incidents, and to replace the existing emergency telephone system.
7. We propose to employ consultants to undertake the detailed design of the widening of Tolo Highway and to entrust DEMS with the detailed design of the CCTV and emergency telephone systems as we do not have the necessary in-house resources.
8. We also need to carry out the associated ground investigation for the project to obtain sufficient ground information for the design of seawalls, slope cuttings and bridge foundations.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
9. We estimate the cost of the proposed works to be $49.6 million in MOD prices, made up as follows -
|
|
$ million
|
|
|---|
|
(a) Consultants fees
|
|
23.2
|
|
|
(i) investigationsreview, design and tendering
|
22.1
|
|
|
|
(ii) supervision of ground investigationdesign and tende
|
1.1
|
|
|
|
(b) Ground investigation fe
|
|
16.0
|
|
|
(c) Electrical and Mechanical Services Trading Fund
(EMSTF) charges 2
|
|
0.9
|
|
|
(d) Contingencies
|
|
4.0
_____
|
|
Sub-total
|
|
44.1
|
(at December
1996 prices) |
|
(e) Inflation allowance
|
|
5.5
_____
|
|
Total
|
|
49.6
_____
|
(in MOD prices) |
2 Upon its establishment on 1 August 1996 under the Trading Funds Ordinance, the EMSTF starts charging government departments for design and technical consultancy services for electrical and mechanical installations. The services rendered for this project include carrying out the detailed design of the proposed CCTV and emergency telephone systems and associated electrical and mechanical (E&M) installations and , if required, conducting the tendering exercise for and E&M sub-contract. A breakdown of the estimated charges by the EMSTF in terms of staff input is at Enclosure 2
10. We will award the consultancy on a lump sum basis with provisions for adjustment due to inflation because the consultancy period will exceed 12 months. A breakdown by man-months of the estimate for consultants fees is at Enclosure 1. The consultants will supervise the ground investigation works under a contract awarded through normal tendering procedures.
11. Subject to approval, we will phase the expenditure as follows -
|
Year
|
$ million
(Dec 1996)
|
Price
adjustment
factor
|
$ million
(MOD)
|
|---|
|
1997 - 1998
|
25.0
|
1.06750
|
26.7 |
|
1998 - 1999
|
12.6
|
1.16358
|
14.7 |
|
1999 - 2000
|
6.5
_____
|
1.26830
|
8.2
_____ |
|
44.1
_____
|
|
49.6
_____ |
12. The proposed consultancy will not give rise to additional annually recurrent expenditure.
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
13. We consulted the Tai Po District Board and the Transport and Traffic Committee of the Sha Tin District Board on 29 April 1997 and 21 May 1997 respectively. Both supported the project. The Advisory Council on the Environment considered the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out for the proposed project on 26 May 1997 and accepted the findings and recommendations.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
14. The proposed consultancy will not have any environmental implications. As part of the feasibility study 3 for the project carried out under a separate consultancy, we completed an EIA study in April 1997 and concluded that the environmental impacts arising from the project could be mitigated to within established standards and guidelines. We shall implement the recommended measures including noise barriers to mitigate the environmental impacts caused. We shall control noise, dust and site run-off nuisances during construction to within established criteria through the implementation of mitigation measures in the relevant contracts.
3We charge the cost of the feasibility of $7.5 million to Head 706 Subhead 6100TX - ' Highway works, studies and investigations for items in Category D of the Public Works Programme'.
LAND ACQUISITION
15. The proposed consultancy does not require land acquisition.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
16. We upgraded 561TH to Category B in August 1995. We plan to start the detailed design and ground investigation works in July 1997 for completion in late 1998. Subject to funding approval, we intend to commence construction by the end of 1998 for completion in 2001.
17. We plan to start a preliminary project feasibility study in September 1997 for the widening of the remaining section of Tolo Highway and Fanling Highway between Island House interchange and Fanling, and installation of the attendant CCTV and emergency telephone systems.
Transport Branch
May 1997
(JJ178)
Enclosure 1 to PWSC(97-98)38
561TH - Widening of Tolo Highway between Island House interchange and Ma Liu Shui interchange
Breakdown of estimates for consultants fees (at December 1996 price)
|
Consultants staff costs
|
|
Estimated
man
months
|
Average MPS* salary point
|
Multiplier
factor
|
Estimated
fee
($ million)
|
|---|
|
(a) Detailed design (including reviewing the findings of the feasibility study and preparation of tender documents and assessment of tenders)
|
Professional
Technical
|
112
62
|
40
16
|
3.0
3.0
|
18.6
3.5 |
|
(b)Supervision of ground investigation works
|
Professional
Technical
|
4
7
|
40
16
|
3.0
3.0
|
0.7
0.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
____ |
|
Total consultants staff costs
|
|
23.2
_____
|
|
* MPS - Master Pay Scale
|
|
|
|
|
|
Out-of-pocket expenses
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(a) Ground investigation works
|
|
|
16.0
____ |
|
Total out-of-pocket expenses
|
|
16.0
_____ |
Notes:
- A multiplier factor of 3 is applied to the average MPS point to arrive at the full staff costs including the consultants overheads and profit, as the staff will be employed in the consultants offices. (At 1.4.96 MPS pt. 40 = $55,390 p.m. and MPS pt. 16 = $18,595 p.m.)
- Out-of-pocket expenses are the actual costs incurred. The consultant is not entitled to any additional payment for overheads or profit in respect of these items.
- The figures given above are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Highways. We will only know the actual man months and actual fees when we have selected the consultant through the usual competitive lump sum fee bid system.
(JJ178)
Enclosure 2 to PWSC(97-98)38
DETAILS OF EMSTF CHARGES
|
Estimated
man-months
|
Estimated Charge*
($ million) |
|
(a) Senior Electronics Engineer
|
1.7
|
0.35 |
|
(b) Electronics Engineer
|
2.8
|
0.39 |
|
(c) Technical Staff
|
1.7
|
0.14
_____
|
|
Total
|
0.88 |
|
Say
|
0.90
_____ |
* The EMSTF charges are estimated on the basis of the required professional input which is then calculated based on the average MPS point multiplied by a factor 2.75 to take account of the associated expenses, staff on-cost, overheads and other Trading Fund expenses.
(JJ178)
Last Updated on 16 August 1999
