For discussion PWSC(96-97)41
on 10 July 1996

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Law and Order
61LC - Redevelopment of Stanley Prison area, phase II

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of the remainder of 61LC to Category A at an estimated cost of $946.1 million in money-of-the-day prices for redeveloping Stanley Prison area.

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PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
Phase I : preparatory works
Phase II : main works

JUSTIFICATION

Prison accommodation
Upgrading and modernisation
Departmental quarters
Barracks accommodation

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
61LC - Redevelopment of Stanley Prison area, phase II -- Breakdown of estimates for consultants’ fees

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PROBLEM

Hong Kong’s overall prison population now stands at 25% over its certified prison accommodation. Overcrowding is serious in Stanley Prison. Its facilities are out-dated and do not make maximum use of the site. There are insufficient departmental quarters for married junior personnel of the Correctional Services Department and there is also insufficient barracks accommodation for officers working in the prison.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Architectural Services (D Arch S), with the support of the Secretary for Security, proposes to upgrade the remainder of 61LC to Category A at an estimated cost of $946.1 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for the redevelopment of Stanley Prison area, phase II.

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The full project scope of 61LC is as follows -

Phase I : preparatory works

1. construction of an annex to Tung Tau Correctional Institution, which is a medium security prison next to Stanley Prison, to provide additional medium security accommodation for 200 prisoners;
2. reprovisioning of the existing dog kennels adjacent to Stanley Prison to make way for the construction of the annex;
3. reprovisioning of the existing hospital block within Stanley Prison to make way for the construction of a self-contained unit for 256 Category A prisoners¹;
4. refurbishment and alteration works to the main gate lodge of Stanley Prison to improve existing visiting, access, reception and security facilities.
5. reprovisioning of the football pitch adjacent to Stanley Prison to make way for the construction of a new medium security prison for 424² Category B and C prisoners;
6. site formation and preparatory works for the construction of departmental quarters and barracks accommodation in phase II.

Phase II : main works

7. construction of a self-contained unit for 256 Category A prisoners;
8. construction of linking blocks for six existing cell blocks (Blocks ABC and Blocks DEF) to upgrade security and improve operational efficiency. This will provide communal facilities including dining/day rooms with associated staff duty rooms, showers and stores;
9. construction of a new medium security prison for 424 Category B and C prisoners;
10. construction of four blocks of quarters, comprising 120 Grade “G” and 360 Grade “H” units (480 in total), for married junior personnel of the Correctional Services Department and a four-storey barracks block providing bedspace for 165 officers, eight single-officer quarters, and changing facilities for 80 day officers;
11. demolition of the existing hospital block and Category A cell block; and
12. connection of all existing buildings at Stanley Prison and the new buildings under this project with the recently completed Stanley main sewers and treatment plant³ .

4. We upgraded phase I of the project to Category A in July 1995. The part of the project we now propose to upgrade to Category A are the main works under phase II.

JUSTIFICATION

Prison accommodation

5. There has been a chronic shortage of prison accommodation since the 1980’s. The situation has turned even worse in recent years. At present, the overall prison population is 12 764, about 25% in excess of the certified prison accommodation of 10 202. We expect the level of overcrowding to remain at 20% over certified prison accommodation into the next century.

6. Overcrowding is serious in Stanley Prison, where the current prison population is 1 995, about 24% over the certified prison accommodation of 1 609. We consider it essential to provide additional prison accommodation in Stanley Prison area to reduce the current shortfall. Upon completion of the whole project, we will provide additional medium security accommodation for 624 prisoners⁴ and accommodation for 151 Category A prisoners⁵ . This will allow us to alleviate the overcrowding in other prisons by re-distributing prisoners among various institutions.

7. We have carried out minor redevelopment and upgrading works in other penal institutions to increase their capacity as far as possible. However, due to various constraints, mainly space limitations, it is neither possible nor cost-effective to carry out large-scale redevelopment works in other penal institutions.

Upgrading and modernisation

8. Stanley Prison was built in the 1930s. Its facilities and security provisions are out-dated and its standards are different from the present requirements for a maximum security prison. We have carried out some upgrading works under phase I of the project. Under phase II, we propose to construct linking blocks for existing cell blocks to provide space for communal facilities for inmates such as toilets, shower rooms and dining/day rooms.The central corridors through the linking blocks will improve operational efficiency and security.

Departmental quarters

9. The Commissioner of Correctional Services forecasts that there will be a shortfall of 283 Grade “G” and 576 Grade “H” married quarters⁶ for junior staff of the department by 1998. This has already taken into account the number of quarters we will provide for staff of the Correctional Services Department through other approved items in the Public Works Programme⁷ . The proposed 120 Grade “G” and 360 Grade “H” quarters will partly be used to reprovision some of the existing quarters lost through demolition to provide space for the new quarters and to provide new quarters to meet the shortfall. Meanwhile, we shall continue to review the shortfall position and plan for the provision of further quarters to meet the outstanding demand.

Barracks accommodation

10. The redevelopment project will result in a net increase of some 360 staff in the Stanley Prison area. For operational reasons we need to provide barracks space for the junior staff. The new barracks block will provide accommodation for 165 junior officers and eight single quarters for senior officers. We will use 32 of the barracks spaces to reprovision the spaces lost through demolition of the existing block under phase I, while the remaining 133 will provide barracks space for the additional staff needed to man the expanded prison facilities and for relieving the congested conditions in existing barrack blocks.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

11. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $946.1 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 12 below), made up as follows -

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

13. 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 2001. For the new medium security prison, we will use a lump-sum contract with provision for adjustments due to inflation as the duration of the contract period is more than 21 months. We will adopt a fixed-price lump-sum basis for all the other works because we can clearly define the scope of the works in advance, leaving little room for uncertainty.

14. We estimate the additional annually recurrent expenditure arising from phase II of the project to be $60.9 million.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

15. We consulted the Works Projects Committee of the Southern District Board on 13 March 1995. The Committee has no objection to the project.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

16. The Director of Environmental Protection completed an Environmental Review in June 1995 and concluded that the project would have no long term environmental impacts. No environmental impact assessment is therefore necessary. For short-term impact during the construction, we will control noise, dust and site run-off nuisances through the implementation of mitigation measures in the work contracts.

LAND ACQUISITION

17. The project does not require land acquisition.

Background INFORMATION

18. We upgraded 61LC to Category B in November 1994. In July 1995, Members agreed to upgrade part of 61LC to Category A as 65LC “Redevelopment of Stanley Prison area, phase I” at a cost of $204.5 million in MOD prices. We have started works for 65LC in October 1995 and expect to complete them in October 1997.

19. We have engaged consultants to carry out building services design and documentation for the works under phase II of the project. We have charged the cost of $4.9 million to the block allocation Subhead 3009GX “Consultants’ fees for building projects”. The consultants are finalising the building services design and documentation and the Director of Architectural Services is finalising other working drawings and tender documents using in-house staff. As regards the design and implementation of the drainage works under phase II, we will appoint specialist consultants to undertake design and documentation under Subhead 3100GX “Project feasibility studies, minor investigations and consultants’ fees selected from items in Category D of the Public Works Programme” at an estimated cost of $1.3 million. We plan to commence construction works for phase II of the project in December 1996 for completion in December 1999.

1 -- For management purposes, prisoners are classified into categories according to their sentence lenghts and security risks. Generally speaking, Category A prisoners are those serving sentences of more than 12 years. When we sought funding approoval from FC in July 1995 via PWSC Paper (95-96)44, we estimated that the new Category A unit could accomodate 240 prisoners. When we subsequently proceeded to the detailed design work, we found that there would be sufficient space to accomodate 256 prisoners. We have therefore increased the capacity accordingly.
2 -- Similar to the situation described under footnote 1, the number of prisoners that can be accomodated in the new medium security prison has been increased from the previous estimate of 400 to 424.
3 -- This item of works was originally included under 3149GK - Minor Improvements to Sewage Treatment and Disposal Facilities of Various Government Buildings and Military Camps. We consider it administratively simpler to carry out the required works for Stanley Prison area under one project. Therefore we have excluded this item from 3149GK and transferred it to our proposed 3061LC.
4 -- We are constructing an annex to Tung Tau Correctional Institution under phase I to provide additional medium security accomodation for 200 prisioners. Under phase II, we will construct a new self-contained medium security prision for 424 prisoners on the existing football field adjacent to the main Stanley Prison.
5 -- We will demolish one existing block with accomodation for 105 Category A prisoners together with the old hospital unit, which is now being reprovisioned under Phase I, to make way for the self-contained Category A unit for 256 prisoners.
6 -- The Government's policy is to provide departmental quarters for married disciplined services staff through both construction and purchase. Subject to availability of sites, the former option is usually cheaper. The latter is useful when we needed to tackle a significant shortfall in the supply of quarters within a short timeframe.
7 -- However, this figure has not haken into account the proposed 40 Grade "G" and 20 Grade "H" quarters under 40LC which will also be discussed at the same PWSC meeting on 10 July 1996 via PWSC papar (96-97)40.

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Enclosure to PWSC (96-97)41

61LC - Redevelopment of Stanley Prison area, phase II -- Breakdown of estimates for consultants’ fees

Notes

1. A multiplier factor of 2.1 is applied to the average MPS point to arrive at the full staff costs as the site staff will be supplied by the consultants. (At 1.4.1995, 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 Architectural Services. The proposed consultancy has been included as part of the overall consultancy agreement for Redevelopment of Stanley Prison Area.

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