For discussion PWSC(95-96)101
on 15 March 1996

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 707 - NEW TOWNS AND URBAN AREA DEVELOPMENT
Kowloon Development
(Civil Engineering - Land development)
402CL - Engineering infrastructure on Hung Hom Bay reclamation

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 402CL to Category A at an estimated cost of $468.5 million in money-of-the-day prices for the construction of engineering infrastructure on the Hung Hom Bay reclamation.

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PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
402CL - Engineering infrastructure on Hung Hom Bay reclamation
Checklist for PWSC Submission

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PROBLEM

There are no roads and drains to serve future developments on the Hung Hom Bay reclamation.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Territory Development, with the support of the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, proposes to upgrade 402CL to Category A at an estimated cost of $468.5 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for the construction of engineering infrastructure on the Hung Hom Bay reclamation.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The scope of the project comprises the construction of -

1. about 3 700 metres of roads with associated drainage and landscaping;
2. five footbridges; and
3. a vehicular underpass at the junction of Hung Hom South Road and Hung Hom Road.

JUSTIFICATION

4. We completed the Hung Hom Bay reclamation in December 1994. The land formed (36 hectares in area) will be used for -

1. residential and commercial developments;
2. Government, institutional and community facilities;
3. the proposed Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation's (KCRC's) freight-yard extension with development above the podium;
4. the proposed Hung Hom Bypass and Princess Margaret Road Link;
5. a Private Sector Participation Scheme (PSPS) housing development with a podium spanning over the Hung Hom Bypass;
6. a Comprehensive Development Area (CDA); and
7. local roads and open spaces.

5. The Task Force on Land Supply and Property Prices has identified the CDA for early development and land sale in 1996 to cope with the prevailing shortage of land for housing development. The KCRC freight-yard extension is scheduled for opening in September 1997. The Housing Department plans to complete the PSPS housing development by March 1998. To tie in with these developments, we need to commence construction of the engineering infrastructure on the Hung Hom Bay reclamation in April 1996 for progressive completion by March 1999.

6. We also need to start the roadworks on the reclamation early in order to tie in with the construction work of the trunk sewer system under another project 199DS - “North and South Kowloon sewerage, stage I, phase II” which aims for completion in mid-1997. Any delay in the roadworks under 402CL will affect the timely completion of the trunk sewer system which will collect sewage from Tsim Sha Tsui and Homantin areas for delivery to To Kwa Wan preliminary treatment works.

7. As part of the project, we will construct a vehicular underpass at the junction of Hung Hom South Road and Hung Hom Road. The underpass can help prevent traffic congestion at the junction. This will be a grade-separated road crossing under the proposed Hung Hom Bypass. We will also construct five footbridges - three will link up the reclamation with the KCRC’s freight-yard extension and two with the existing Whampoa Garden to the northeast of the reclamation. We need to construct these footbridges now as part of the roadworks to avoid future technical construction problems such as additional construction noise, traffic jam, etc.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

8. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $468.5 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 9 below), made up as follows -

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

We derive the MOD estimate on the basis of the Government’s forecasts of trend labour and construction prices over the period between 1996 and 2001. We will incorporate the proposed works into the contract for 384TH - “Hung Hom Bypass and Princess Margaret Road Link”. We have included 402CL as a provisional item in the contract. The contract will be a standard re-measurement contract to be administered by the Director of Highways and will provide for adjustments to the tender price due to inflation because the contract period exceeds 21 months.

10. We estimate the annually recurrent expenditure of the proposed works to be $3.35 million.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

11. We consulted the Traffic and Transport Committee of the Kowloon City District Board (KCDB) on 7 May 1992 on the proposed roadworks and received no objection. Regarding the proposed direct and indirect noise mitigation measures (mentioned in paragraph 15 below), we also consulted the Environmental Improvement Committee of the KCDB on 17 August 1995 and received no adverse comments.

12. We gazetted the project under the Roads (Works, Use and Compensation) Ordinance on 9 September 1994. We received no objection to the roadworks under 402CL.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

13. Based on the results of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for 384TH completed by consultants in October 1992, the Director of Environmental Protection (DEP) considers that the traffic on the proposed new roads under 384TH and 402CL will have no adverse air quality impact.

14. We then engaged consultants to carry out a detailed EIA to address the cumulative traffic noise impact of these new roads and the air quality impact specifically in respect of the vehicular underpass on the existing developments. The consultants completed the detailed EIA in September 1995. The detailed EIA shows that by 2011, a total of 1 200 dwellings will be exposed to noise levels exceeding the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines (HKPSG) noise limit¹ if we do not provide any mitigation measures to these dwellings.

15. To address the traffic noise problems, we have drawn up the following package of direct and indirect technical remedies -

1. direct technical remedies will include the use of low noise road surfacing material on local roads with high traffic flows and 3-metre high noise barriers along both sides of the underpass ramp walls with absorptive linings. The estimated cost of these remedies is $6 million at December 1994 prices. These remedies will reduce the noise level in general for all the affected dwellings. For some 200 dwellings, the noise level will fall within the HKPSG limit; and
2. indirect technical remedies will include window improvement (using double-glazing or windows made up of thicker glass) and provision of air conditioners, with an estimated cost of $9 million at December 1994 prices for some 500 eligible² dwellings in Whampoa Garden and Hung Hom Bay Centre.

We have included the total estimated cost of $15 million for the above noise mitigation measures in the overall project estimate.

16. The detailed EIA also concluded that there would be no adverse air quality impact due to traffic emissions from the vehicular underpass. We will install a ventilation system inside the underpass for use during traffic congestion.³ The estimated cost of the ventilation system is about $500,000, which we have included in the overall project estimate.

17. The Advisory Council on the Environment endorsed the detailed EIA on 23 October 1995 and the Governor in Council approved the indirect technical remedies on 21 November 1995.

18. For short term impacts during construction, we will control noise, dust and site run-off through the implementation of appropriate mitigation measures in the works contract.

LAND ACQUISITION

19. We will acquire about 3 330 square metres of paved private land in Whampoa Garden for the proposed road works. The owners are required to surrender this piece of land to Government without compensation under the lease conditions. We will charge the cost of clearance, estimated at $50,000, to Head 701 - Land Acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

20. We upgraded 402CL to Category B in February 1993. We employed consultants to carry out the design and to prepare the working drawings at a cost of $5.6 million which included the cost of about $500,000 for the EIA Study mentioned in paragraph 14 above. We have charged the $5.6 million to the block allocation Subhead 7008CX “Consultants’ fees and charges and major in-house investigations for new towns and urban area development projects”. The consultants have completed the detailed design and the working drawings and we schedule to start the works in April 1996 for completion in March 1999. We will arrange early completion for certain sections of the works to tie in with future developments on the Hung Hom Bay reclamation.

1 -- The noise limit is 79DB(A)L₁₀(1hr). In layman terms, it means thtat htere is ten percent of the time during the hour of peak traffic when the noise level exceeds 70 decibels.
2 -- For the purpose of deterrmining the eligibility of the affected premises for indirect technical remedies, we use the following three criteria approved by the Governor in Council --

1. the predicted overall noise level from the new road together with other traffic noise in the vicinity must be above 70dB(A)L10(1hour);
2. the predicted overal noise level is at least 0.1dB(A) more than the prevailing traffic noise level, i.e. the total traffic noise level exisiting before the works to construct the road were commenced; and
3. the contribution to the increase in the overall noise level from the new road must be at lease 1.0dB(A)

3 -- The ventilation system uses electric fans. The fans are switched on by carbon monoxide detectors.

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Enclosure to PWSC(95-96)101

402CL - Engineering infrastructure on Hung Hom Bay reclamation

Breakdown of the estimate for consultants’ fees for construction stage

Notes

1. The average estimated cost per professional man month is about equivalent to a Senior Engineer on MPS point 47.
2. The average estimated cost per technical man month is about equivalent to a Technical Officer on MPS point 20.

Checklist for PWSC Submission

402CL - Engineering infrastructure on Hung Hom Bay reclamation

(a) Necessity to go to the PWSC

It is necessary to seek the PWSC/FC approval to upgrade 402CL to Category A at an estimated cost of $468.5 million in money-of-the day prices before inviting tenders.

(b) Authority

The project to provide engineering infrastructure is in furtherance of the proposed developments on Hung Hom Bay reclamation.

(c) Funding

The current project estimate is $332 million at December 1994 prices. The 1995 CWRF RAE has earmarked $324 million at the same price level for the project. The deficit of $8 million can be offset by savings quoted from 7332CL "West Kowloon Reclamation - main works (Remainder - Non ACP)".

(d) Political assessment

The implementation of the project will provide the necessary infrastructure for development of the reclaimed land in Hung Hom Bay. This is not a politically contentious project.

(e) Lobbying requirement

We consider lobbying unnecessary.

(f) Fallback option

If we encounter difficulties at the PWSC meeting, we would prefer to withdraw the paper for a re-submission at a subsequent meeting

(g) Attendance at the PWSC meeting

Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands (Mr. Bowen Leung) and Director of Territory Development (Mr S S Lee) will attend the meeting.

(h) Special consideration

Nil

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