For discussion
on 23 September 1998

PWSC(98-99)16

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 704 - DRAINAGE
Civil Engineering - Drainage and erosion protection
61CD - Extension of the new drainage outfall from Canton Road

    Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 61CD to Category A at an estimated cost of $38.2 million in money-of-the-day prices.
PROBLEM

We need to extend the existing drainage outfall to tie in with the phase IV extension of West Kowloon Reclamation (WKR) in order to discharge rainwater collected from the Yau Ma Tei area to the harbour.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Drainage Services, with the support of the Secretary for Works, proposes to upgrade 61CD to Category A at an estimated cost of $38.2 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for the extension of the drainage culvert from the existing seafront near Jordan Road Ferry Pier to the new seafront to be formed under the phase IV extension of WKR.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The scope of the project comprises the construction of approximately 380 metres of single-cell box culvert of size 4.5 metres by 3.0 metres. A site plan showing the location of the proposed works is at Enclosure 1.

JUSTIFICATION

4. At present, rainwater collected from the Yau Ma Tei area is discharged to the harbour through the drainage outlet at the seafront near Jordan Road Ferry Pier. To tie in with the staged construction programme of the WKR, we need to extend the drainage culvert to the new seafront to be formed under the phase IV extension of WKR which will commence in January 1999 for completion in December 2001. If we do not extend the drainage culvert, there will be no outlet for discharge of rainwater when the phase IV extension of WKR is completed.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

5. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $38.2 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 6 below), made up as follows -


$ million


(a) Drainage culvert

26.6


(b) Contingencies

2.6



_____


Sub-total

29.2

(at December

1997 prices)

(c) Inflation allowance

9.0



_____


Total

38.2

(in MOD prices)

_____

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

Year

$ million
(Dec 1997)

Price
adjustment
factor

$ million
(MOD)

1998 - 99

0.5

1.06000

0.5

1999 - 2000

4.5

1.14878

5.2

2000 - 01

6.0

1.24642

7.5

2001 - 02

15.0

1.35237

20.3

2002 - 03

3.2

1.46732

4.7

_____


_____

29.2


38.2

_____


_____

7. We have derived the MOD estimate on the basis of the Government's forecasts of trend labour and construction prices for the period 1998 to 2003.

8. We will include the project in a reclamation contract for the phase IV extension of WKR under 7332CL "West Kowloon Reclamation - main works (remainder)" so that we can integrate the proposed drainage works into the reclamation works for implementation under one contract. The contract will be let on a remeasurement basis because we are uncertain about the quantities of earthworks involved in the reclamation. The contract will allow for adjustments to the tender price due to inflation as the contract period will exceed 21 months.

9. We estimate the total annual recurrent expenditure to be $594,000.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

10. We presented the project to the Yau Tsim Mong Provisional District Board on 30 April 1998. Members of the Provisional District Board supported the implementation of the proposed works.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

11. The Director of Environmental Protection completed an Environmental Review in February 1994 and concluded that the project would have no long term adverse environmental impact and a full Environmental Impact Assessment was not necessary. For short term impacts during construction, we will control noise, dust and site run-off nuisance to within established standards and guidelines through the implementation of mitigation measures in the works contract.

LAND ACQUISITION

12. The project does not require any land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

13. We included 61CD in Category C in May 1993 and upgraded it to Category B in November 1993 for the extension of the drainage culvert in phase with the staged implementation of the WKR project.

14. On 3 March 1995, Finance Committee approved the upgrading of part of 61CD to Category A, as 69CD "Stormwater drain from Canton Road to the southern seafront of West Kowloon Reclamation" with an approved project estimate of $29 million in MOD prices, for the first phase extension of the drainage culvert. We started the works in April 1995 and completed them in July 1997.

15. We have completed the detailed design and preparation of tender documents for the proposed works using in-house staff resources. We plan to start construction in January 1999 for completion in December 2001.

Works Bureau
September 1998
(PWSC0001/WIN1)