For discussion PWSC(96-97)28
on 1 July 1996

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Education - Tertiary/other
66ET - Boarding section for special school in area 25, Shatin

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 66ET to Category A at an estimated cost of $28.5 million in money-of-the-day prices for the construction of a detached boarding section for special school in area 25, Shatin.

---

PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
66ET - Boarding section for special school in area 25, Shatin --Breakdown of estimates for consultants’ fees
Checklist for PWSC Submission 66ET - Boarding section for special school in area 25, Shatin

---

PROBLEM

There are insufficient boarding places for moderately mentally handicapped children in the territory.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Architectural Services (D Arch S), with the support of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, proposes to upgrade 66ET to Category A at an estimated cost of $28.5 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for the construction of a detached boarding section for special school in area 25, Shatin.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The project comprises the construction of a 60-place detached boarding section in area 25, Shatin for the nearby Caritas Lok Jun School for moderately mentally handicapped children and the reprovisioning of an open carpark, a refuse collection point and a parking space for refuse collection vehicle.

4. The boarding section will be a four-storey building providing the following facilities -

1. 1 warden's office and 1 unit of warden’s quarters;
2. 1 unit of caretaker's quarters;
3. 2 units of barracks quarters;
4. 1 general office/staff room;
5. 1 conference room;
6. 1 sickbay/quiet room;
7. 1 nurse's duty room;
8. 10 units of dormitories for 6 boarders each;
9. 1 dining/multipurpose room;
10. 1 kitchen;
11. 1 laundry, drying area; and
12. 1 loading/unloading area.

JUSTIFICATION

5. There are at present two special schools with boarding facilities and one with a detached boarding section for moderately mentally handicapped children, providing a total of 124 boarding places in the territory.

6. According to the Report of the Working Group on Population Distribution and the provision rate adopted by the 1990 Rehabilitation Programme Plan, the projected shortfall of boarding places for moderately mentally handicapped children in the territory will be about 160 places in mid-1998, including about 60 in the north-eastern part of the New Territories. We therefore propose to implement the proposed project in area 25, Shatin.

7. The project will provide boarding facilities for 60 children in the Caritas Lok Jun School which is located very close to the proposed boarding section. The site is currently used as an open car park, a refuse collection point and a parking space for refuse collection vehicles. We will reprovision these facilities to the adjacent sites.

8. The proposed project is scheduled for completion in 1998. This together with another boarding section for special school in Hong Kong south to be completed in 1997, will provide an additional 120 boarding places to meet the demand. We plan to meet the remaining shortfall of about 40 places by building another boarding section in the north-western part of the New Territories.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

9. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $28.5 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 10 below), made up as follows -

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

11. We have derived the MOD estimate on the basis of the Government's forecasts of trend labour and construction prices for the period 1996 to 2000. We will carry out the works for the reprovisioning of the refuse collection point and carparking facilities by term contractors. We will tender the construction works under a fixed-price lump-sum contract because we can clearly define the scope of works in advance, leaving little room for uncertainty.

12. We estimate the annually recurrent expenditure for the project to be $6.84 million.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

13. We consulted the Sha Tin District Board in May 1996. The Board supported the project.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

14. D Arch S’s consultatns for 66ET completed a noise impact assessment in March 1996 to address the impact on rthe boarding section of the noise from the Kowloon Canton Railway. We have adopted a self-protecting layout design to orientate all noise sensitive rooms away from the railway line in order to reduced the noise impact to within the established noise limits.

15. For short term construction impact, we will control dust, noise and site runoff nuisance during construction in line with established standards and guidelines through the implementation of mitigation measures in relevant contracts.

LAND ACQUISITION

16. The project does not require land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

17. We included 66ET in Category B in September 1995.

18. We have completed site investigations and detailed design for the project. We have engaged consultants of the quantity surveying discipline for pre-contract preparatory work at an estimated cost of $0.3 million. We have charged this amount to the block allocation Subhead 3100GX "Project feasibility studies, minor investigations and consultants' fees selected from items in Category D of the Public Works Programme". We plan to start the reprovisioning works in October 1996 for completion in March 1997. We will proceed with the construction works in March 1997 for completion in June 1998.

---

Enclosure to PWSC(96-97)28

66ET - Boarding section for special school in area 25, Shatin --Breakdown of estimates for consultants’ fees

Notes

1. 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 1.4.1995, MPS pt. 40 = $51,440 p.m. and MPS pt. 16 = $17,270 p.m.).
2. Out-of-pocket expenses are the actual costs incurred. The consultant are not entitled to any additional payment for overheads or profit in respect of this item.
3. The figures given above are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Architectural Services. We will only know the actual man-months and actual fees when we have selected the consultants through the usual competitive lump sum fee bid system.

---

Checklist for PWSC Submission 66ET - Boarding section for special school in area 25, Shatin

1. Necessity to go to PWSC

PWSC’s endorsement is necessary for upgrading the project to Category A.

2. Authority

The provision of boarding places for moderately mentally handicapped children on a territory-wide basis to meet the shortfall is an established policy.

3. Funding

An amount of $22.912 million has been earmarked in the 1996 RAE and savings of $0.388 million from 66ES - secondary school in area 49B, Fanling has been identified for this project to make up a total of the updated estimate of $23.3 million at December 1995 prices.

4. Political assessment

We consulted the Shatin District Board in May 1996. The Board supported the school project.

5. Clearance with District Officer

As the District Board supports the project, SEM considers that clearance with District Officer is not required.

6. Consultation with LegCo Panel

No consultation is required.

7. Lobbying requirements

No lobbying is required.

8. Fallback option

It is unlikely that the project is not supported by Members. We propose this project to be put to vote if there are some objections.

9. Attendance at PWSC meeting

The following officers will attend the meeting -

Director of Architectural Services
Mr. Kenneth CHAN

Principal Assistant Secretary (Education and Manpower) 6
Ms Olivia NIP

Assistant Director of Education (Allocation and Support)
Mr. Anthony K H TONG

10. Special Consideration

Nil.

---