For discussion PWSC(95-96)104
on 15 March 1996

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Education - Primary
192EP - Primary school in Ko Chiu Road, Kwun Tong

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 192EP to Category A at an estimated cost of $65.6 million in money-of-the-day prices for the construction of a primary school in Ko Chiu Road, Kwun Tong.

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PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
192EP - Primary school in Ko Chiu Road, Kwun Tong

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PROBLEM

The Director of Education (D of E) forecasts that by 1998, there will be a shortfall of 46 primary school classes in school zone 219 (Lam Tin and Lei Yue Mun). This is a re-submission of the paper PWSC(95-96)66 discussed at the meeting held on 7 December 1995.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Architectural Services (D Arch S), with the support of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, proposes to upgrade 192EP to Category A at an estimated cost of $65.6 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for the construction of a primary school in Ko Chiu Road, Kwun Tong.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The proposed school will be of a new standard design. It will comprise -

1. 30 classrooms;
2. four special rooms;
3. three remedial teaching rooms;
4. a guidance activity/interview room;
5. two interview rooms;
6. a staff common room;
7. a student activity centre;
8. a library; and
9. an assembly hall and ancillary facilities.

JUSTIFICATION

4. For school zone 219, there are at present five primary schools providing a total of 174 classes. We will provide three additional whole-day primary schools in 1996. Due to the Housing Authority’s Comprehensive Redevelopment Programme, we will close down three bi-sessional primary schools, two in 1996 and one in 1998, resulting in a net decrease of 30 primary school classes in the school zone.

5. D of E forecasts that the demand for primary school classes in this school zone will reach 190 classes in 1998, hence a shortfall of 46 classes. In order to alleviate the shortfall, we will require a new whole-day primary school in 1998. We will absorb the remaining shortfall of 16 classes in adjacent school zones where there is surplus provision.

6. In deciding the location of the proposed school, we have taken into consideration the geographical distribution of schools. School zone 219 covers two parts : the upper part (Lam Tin including Hong Pak Court) and the lower part (Cha Kwo Ling, Yau Tong and Lei Yue Mun). By 1998, we will have a total of five primary schools in this school zone (excluding the proposed school) - three in the upper part and two in the lower part. It is therefore appropriate to build the proposed school in the lower part in order to achieve a more even distribution of schools within the school zone.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

7. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $65.6 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 8 below), made up as follows -

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

9. A comparison between the standard cost of building a primary school and the cost of this project is at Enclosure II. 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 2000. We will use two contracts to separate the site formation and piling works from the superstructural works because the former will include drainage diversion works which require specialised expertise. The two contracts will be fixed-price lump-sum contracts because we can define clearly the scope of works in advance, leaving little room for uncertainty.

10. Owing to site constraints, we need to divert the existing drainage nullah and water mains which are at present running across the site. The Director of Water Supplies (DWS) will undertake the watermain diversion works. We will include the drainage diversion works in the site formation and piling contract.

11. We estimate the annually recurrent expenditure for the school to be $13.6 million. As the new school will be an aided school, the sponsoring body will bear the costs of furniture and equipment, estimated at $1.9 million.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

12. We consulted the Kwun Tong District Board in November 1995. The District Board supported this project.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

13. In March 1995, the Director of Environmental Protection vetted a Preliminary Environmental Review completed by D Arch S’s consultants and concluded that, given the location and small scale of this project, there was limited potential for adverse impacts on the environment associated with the operation of the school. An Environmental Impact Assessment was therefore not necessary. For short term impacts during construction, we will control the construction noise, dust and site run-off to within established standards and guidelines through the implementation of appropriate mitigation measures in relevant contracts.

LAND ACQUISITION

14. This project does not require land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

15. We included 192EP in Category B in September 1995.

16. We have engaged consultants to carry out geotechnical engineering and quantity surveying works for the pre-construction stage of the project at an estimated cost of $0.95 million, which we charged to the block allocation Subhead 3009GX “Consultants’ fees for building projects”. We completed the detailed design for this project in December 1995.

17. DWS will complete the watermain diversion works in January 1997. We will proceed with the site formation and piling works in February 1997 and superstructural works in July 1997. We schedule to complete the whole project in August 1998.

18. We provide below other relevant information in response to comments made by Members at the meeting held on 7 December 1995 -

1. Demand and supply of school places in Kwun Tong District

   Kwun Tong District comprises five school zones : school zone 216 (Ping Shek and Kowloon Bay), school zone 217 (Sau Mau Ping), school zone 218 (Kwun Tong), school zone 219 (Lam Tin and Lei Yue Mun) and school zone 220 (Shun Lee, Shun On and Shun Tin). D of E forecasts that by 1998, there will be surplus of 137, 97 and 67 primary classes in school zones 216, 218 and 220 respectively, and shortfall of 8 and 46 primary classes in school zones 217 and 219 respectively.

2. Choice of school site

   The site at Ko Chiu Road is the only readily available school site in the school zone. Although the area of the site (i.e. 5 800 square metres) is smaller than the recommended standard (i.e. 6200 square metres), it is large enough to accommodate all the essential facilities of a standard primary school. Therefore, D of E considers that the site is acceptable for primary school use.

3. Slope stabilisation

   D Arch S advises that although there was a minor landslide incident in the site in August 1995, we have carried out slope remedial works and there is no immediate landslide risk. We will carry out slope stabilisation works as part of the project to ensure long term slope safety.

4. Flooding risk

   We will carry out improvement works to upgrade the existing drainage nullah in the school site as part of this project in order to remove the risk of flooding.

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Enclosure I to PWSC(95-96)104

192EP - Primary school in Ko Chiu Road, Kwun Tong

Breakdown of the estimate for consultant’s fees

Notes

1. The average estimated cost per professional man month is about equivalent to a professional on MPS point 44.
2. The average estimated cost per technical man month is about equivalent to a Technical Officer on MPS point 20.
3. The estimated man months and fees for quantity surveying consultants are based on the fee proposals submitted by the consultants who have been selected through the usual competitive system to carry out pre-contract preparatory work. We intend to employ the same consultants for site supervision and contract administration which have been included as provisional items in the consultancy agreement.
4. The details for geotechnical engineering consultants are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Architectural Services (D Arch S). Because the estimated costs for the geotechnical work and the estimated consultant fees are within $2 million and $0.5 million respectively, we will follow the existing procedures for the Selection of Geotechnical Consultants for Small Jobs. D Arch S will approach the Principal Government Geotechnical Engineer to recommend a geotechnical consultant to provide both pre-contract and construction stages consultancy services. He will then negotiate with the consultant to undertake the works on a lump sum basis.
5. The estimated consultants’ fees represent 2.3% of the total project estimate, and cover post-contract site supervision services and contract administration services for quantity surveying discipline and geotechnical engineering discipline.

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Enclosure II to PWSC(95-96)104

*Assumptions for standard cost

1. No site formation work/geotechnical work is required as it is normally carried out under a separate engineering vote.
2. Piling cost is based on 110 nos. of steel H-piles of an average depth of 30 metres built on a flat site. No diversion of existing utilities or noise mitigation measures are required.
3. No consultancy services are required.
4. Furniture and equipment cost is excluded as it is usually borne by the sponsoring body.

   Notes

   1. This cost includes construction of retaining walls to retain the cutting of the existing hillslope and forming the slightly sloping site to level.
   2. This is based on 90 nos. of steel H-piles of an average depth of 20 metres.
   3. This includes diversion of the existing water mains and drainage nullah.
   4. Consultancy services for quantity surveying and geotechnical engineering disciplines are required for this project.

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   Last Updated on 8 December 1998