ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEEOF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 705 - CIVIL ENGINEERING Civil Engineering - Land development

405CL - Northeast New Territories reclamation for dumping

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee -

(a) the upgrading of part of 405CL, retitled "Pak Shek Kok reclamation for dumping, stage I", to Category A at an estimated cost of $206.7 million in money-of-the-day prices; and

(b) the retention of the remainder of 405CL in Category B retitled "Pak Shek Kok reclamation for dumping, remaining stages".

PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Breakdown of estimates for consultants' fees

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PROBLEM

No site in northeast New Territories is available as a public dump for the disposal of construction waste.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Civil Engineering, with the support of the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, proposes to upgrade part of 405CL to Category A at an estimated cost of $206.7 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices to carry out civil engineering works for the first stage of a public dump at Pak Shek Kok. A site plan is at Enclosure I.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The whole project consists of three stages. The part of the project we now propose to upgrade to Category A is the first stage of the project which comprises -

1. construction of a 1 000 metre long seawall;
2. reclamation of about 14 hectares of seabed, using approximately 0.6 million cubic metres of public dumping material to be transported by barging from the Ma On Shan barging point;
3. construction of drainage channels;
4. construction of a 1 600 metre long watermain; and
5. carrying out environmental monitoring and implementation of necessary mitigation measures.

4. The remainder of 405CL comprises -

1. construction of the remaining 1 500 metre long sloping seawall;
2. reclamation of about 54 hectares of seabed using public dumping material to be transported by barging from the Sha Tin barging point;
3. construction of remaining drainage channels; and
4. carrying out environmental monitoring and implementation of necessary mitigation measures for the remaining public dumping.

JUSTIFICATION

5. Annually, the construction industry produces about 3.5 million cubic metres of inert construction waste which is suitable as reclamation fill. We endeavour, where possible, to accommodate such construction waste in public dumps rather than in the sanitary landfills. After the closure of the public dump at Ma On Shan in 1993, there is now no site in the northeastern New Territories (NENT) to accommodate inert construction waste. Trucks (making 400 trips per day on average) have to travel from NENT to the other public dumping sites in Tseung Kwan O or Tuen Mun to dispose of such waste. This creates considerable traffic problems.

6. As part of an overall strategy on public dumping, the Land Development Policy Committee agreed in March 1992 that we should identify a new reclamation site in NENT for the disposal of inert construction waste. Planning Department subsequently identified six sites for a public dumping area in NENT. We selected Pak Shek Kok after an exhaustive site search because of its suitable capacity and location, lower engineering cost and less adverse environmental impacts. We need to proceed with this reclamation project as soon as possible so as to solve the problem associated with construction waste disposal mentioned in paragraph 5 above.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

7. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $206.7 million in MOD prices, made up as follows -

A breakdown by man months of the estimate for consultants' fees to carry out pre-construction environmental monitoring and to supervise and audit the environmental monitoring programme is at Enclosure II.

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

9. We have derived the MOD estimates on the basis of the Government's forecasts of trend labour and construction prices for the period 1996 to 1999. We will tender the works as a combined remeasurement and lump sum contract. The lump sum part will cover environmental monitoring and mitigation measures the scope of work of which is well defined such that substantial changes are unlikely. The seawall, drainage channels and reclamation works are subject to remeasurement as there is uncertainty over the exact amount of the marine deposits we need to remove. The contract will not provide for adjustments to the tender price due to inflation as the contract period will be less than 21 months.

10. We estimate the annually recurrent expenditure to be $388,000.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

11. We presented the project to the Sha Tin District Board and the Tai Po District Board on 12 and 26 April 1994 respectively. Both District Boards endorsed the project in principle, and requested that we form a working group to monitor the development of the project. We will set up the working group composed of members of both District Boards and representatives from Government departments, prior to the commencement of the works.

12. We also consulted the Sha Tin District Board on our proposal to set up a barging point at Ma On Shan on 11 April 1995. The Board endorsed the proposal.

13. We gazetted the reclamation under the Foreshore and Sea-bed (Reclamations) Ordinance (the Ordinance) in August 1994. During the statutory objection period, we received an objection from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (the University). The University objected to the access arrangement through the University campus and expressed grave concern about the environmental implications of the project.

14. To address the University's concern, Government will implement environmental mitigation measures and provide a buffer zone on the reclamation site in order to preserve the University environment. Furthermore, as the project will have some impact on the Hong Kong Institute of Biotechnology Limited Building of the University, we will reimburse the University the cost of additional heating, ventilation and air conditioning filters and window cleaning work for the building. We estimate the total cost to be $1 million. The estimated reimbursement cost for stage I works is $0.2 million. We have included this cost in the estimated project cost. The University withdrew its objection in early March 1996, after we had agreed not to use an access road in the University campus. We shall transport the public dumping material to the site by barging from Ma On Shan. The Governor in Council authorized the project under the Ordinance on 15 March 1996.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

15. Consultants carried out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study between September 1993 and June 1994 which concluded that dust and water quality impact during operation of the reclamation would be the major concerns. We presented the project to the EIA Subcommittee of the Advisory Council on the Environment (ACE) on 5 July 1994. The Subcommittee recommended to ACE that the latter approved the project subject to the condition, inter alia, that there should be an independent consultant to monitor the site environmental performance of the contractor. ACE endorsed the recommendation on 15 August 1994.

16. The findings of the EIA study showed that, with the implementation of the recommended mitigation measures, we should be able to control the noise, air and water quality impact during the operation of the public dump within established environmental guidelines and standards. We will implement the recommended mitigation measures including the provision of wheel washing facilities, water bowsers , silt curtain around the seawater intake of the Marine Science Laboratory and landscaping works at an estimated cost of $2.6 million. During the reclamation, the contractor will carry out environmental monitoring at an estimated cost of $10.5 million which covers air, noise and water quality in
accordance with an environmental management plan to monitor the environmental performance and to ensure that the mitigation measures are effective. We will also employ an independent consultant to supervise and audit the contractor's environmental monitoring programme in accordance with the EIA recommendations endorsed by ACE. Moreover, the independent consultant will carry out pre-construction environmental monitoring.

17. We have included the costs for implementing the EIA recommendations and for environmental monitoring in the project estimate.

LAND ACQUISITION

18. This project requires no land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

19. We included this project in Category B in November 1993. The Civil Engineering Department has since completed the detailed design and working drawings for the first stage of the project using in-house staff.

20. We have scheduled the construction of the Pak Shek Kok reclamation, stage I to start in September 1996 for completion in December 1997. We plan to implement the remainder of 405CL, in two stages starting in early 1998 for completion in 2004. The estimated cost is $476 million at December 1995 prices.

(EE972)

Enclosure II to PWSC (96-97)6

405CL - Northeast New Territories reclamation for dumping

DETAILS OF CONSULTANT'S FEES

Breakdown of estimates for consultants' fees

Consultant's staff costs

Notes

1. A multiplier factor of 3 is applied to the average MPS point to arrive at the full staff costs including the consultant's overheads and profit, as the staff will be employed in the consultant's offices. (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 Civil Engineering. We will only know the actual man months and actual fees when we have selected the consultants through the usual competitive system.

(EE972)

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