For discussion PWSC(96-97)69
on 20 November 1996

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Support - Others
32GK - Regional Depot for the Water Supplies Department in Mainland North East

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 32GK to Category A at an estimated cost of $191.7 million in money-of-the-day prices for the construction of a regional depot for the Water Supplies Department in Mainland North East.

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PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
32GK - Regional Depot for the Water Supplies Department in Mainland North East

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PROBLEM

The severe shortage of space in the Argyle Street Depot of the Water Supplies Department (WSD) in Mong Kok seriously affects the operational efficiency of the regional offices in the depot.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Architectural Services, with the support of the Secretary for Works and the Director of Water Supplies, proposes to upgrade 32GK to Category A at an estimated cost of $191.7 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for the construction of a regional depot for WSD in Mainland North East.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The project aims at providing a permanent and stand-alone Mainland North East depot for WSD on a 2046 square metres site at Tai Chung Kiu Road, Sha Tin. The scope of the project comprises -

1. design and construction of an 8-storey carpark and office building; and
2. construction of ancillary facilities which include Dangerous Goods stores, workshops, storage facilities, a small canteen and recreation area, and space for temporary barracks.

Carparking facilities will be located on the ground floor and the first three storeys which can altogether provide 63 parking spaces for vans and private cars. Above the carparks will be four storeys of office accommodation to house the administration and planning facilities for WSD.

4. The total construction area is 12 050 square metres or some 5.9 times the site area. Excluding non-accountable gross floor areas, the achieved plot ratio is 3.114¹ .

JUSTIFICATION

5. At present, the Mainland North East, Mainland North West and Mainland South West regional offices of WSD are accommodated in the Argyle Street Depot and the Mainland South East regional office in a temporary depot in Diamond Hill. These four offices² are responsible for the operation and maintenance of the water supply systems and the provision of customer services for Kowloon and the New Territories (N.T.).

6. Based on the current space standards for government offices, the net office and associated works/storage space requirements of the three regional offices currently accommodated in the Argyle Street Depot should be 15 513 square metres in total (excluding other areas such as carparks, toilets, lifts, corridors, pantries, plant rooms, etc), as opposed to the existing provision of 4 669 square metres. The space shortfall of 10 844 square metres has caused serious congestion and has adversely affected the operational efficiency of the three offices.

7. In order to alleviate the shortage of space, we plan to construct a new depot for each of the three offices to be located in the respective regions they serve. We consider it necessary to locate the regional depots in their respective regions in order to reduce the response and travelling time required by our staff in undertaking inspection, maintenance and emergency repair works. This is especially important in view of the rapid development of the N.T in recent years which has resulted in a considerable extension in populated areas from Kowloon and Hong Kong Island to the N.T. The present arrangement of locating the three regional depots in the Argyle Street Depot cannot provide an efficient service. We therefore propose to build a stand-alone depot in Sha Tin under 32GK for the Mainland North East regional office to improve operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness in its provision of services to the region. Separately, we are finalising the relocation plans for the Mainland North West regional office and the Mainland South West regional office. We hope to release the site of the Argyle Street Depot for redevelopment as soon as the new depots for the three regional offices are completed for operation.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

8. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $191.7 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 1997 and 2001. We will tender the works under a fixed-price lump-sum contract because we can clearly define the scope of works in advance, leaving little room for uncertainty.

11. This project would have no impact on fees. We estimate the annually recurrent expenditure for this project to be $4.1 million.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

12. We consulted the Sha Tin District Board on 1 October 1996. Members supported the project.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

13. The Director of Environmental Protection conducted an Environmental Review for the project in August 1996 and concluded that no Environmental Impact Assessment was required as the project would not cause adverse impact to the environment. For short-term impacts, we shall control noise, dust and site run-off nuisances during construction to comply with the established criteria through the implementation of mitigation measures in the relevant contracts.

LAND ACQUISITION

14. The project does not require land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

15. We upgraded 32GK to Category B in November 1993. We completed the site investigation work for the project. We engaged consultants of the architectural discipline for contract documentation at an estimated cost of $2.99 million and charged this amount to the block allocation Subhead 3009GX "Consultancy fees for building projects" in March 1995. We engaged consultants of the structural engineering discipline for contract documentation at an estimated cost of $2.24 million and charged this amount to the block allocation Subhead 3100GX "Project feasibility studies, minor investigations and consultancy fees selected from items in Category D of the Public Works Programme" in July 1996. We plan to start the construction works of the proposed depot in March 1997 for completion in February 1999.

1 -- The Government Property Administrator has attempted to identify suitable additional users. No such users can be found.
2 --- The four regional offices serve the following areas -

Mainland North East - Sha Tin, Man On Shan, Tai Po, Fanling and Sheung Shui
Mainland North West - Yuen Long, Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan
Mainland South West -- Kwai Chung & Tsing Yi, Sham Shui Po, Mongkok, Yaumatei and Kowloon City
Mainland South East -- Sai Kung, Kwun Tong and Wong Tai Sin

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Enclosure to PWSC(96-97)69

32GK - Regional Depot for the Water Supplies Department in Mainland North East

Breakdown of estimates for consultants’ fees

Notes

1. A multiplier factor of 2.1 is applied to the average MPS point to arrive at the full staff costs including consultants’ overheads and profit, as the site staff will be supplied by the consultants. (At 1.4.95, MPS pt. 40 = $51,440 p.m. and MPS pt. 16 = $17,270 p.m.)

2. The figures given above are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Architectural Services. We will only know the actual man months and fees when we have selected the consultants through the usual competitive lump sum fee bid system.

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