For discussion PWSC(96-97)63
on 6 November 1996

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Education - Secondary
207ES - Third secondary school in Siu Sai Wan, Chai Wan
210ES - Secondary school in area 25, Tseung Kwan O
211ES - Secondary school in area 31, Tin Shui Wai

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 207ES, 210ES and 211ES to Category A at an estimated total cost of $218.2 million in money-of-the-day prices for the construction of three secondary schools in the territory.

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PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
A comparison of the standard cost of a secondary school project with the estimated costs of the proposed school projects

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PROBLEM

There will be shortfalls of 148 and 271 secondary school classes in the territory by 1998 and 1999 respectively.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Architectural Services (D Arch S), with the support of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, proposes to upgrade the following projects to Category A at an estimated total cost of $218.2 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices -

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. The three secondary schools will be of the standard design. Each school will comprise -

1. 26 classrooms;
2. 14 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; and
8. an assembly hall and ancillary facilities.

JUSTIFICATION

4. The Director of Education forecasts that there will be a shortfall of 148 secondary school classes in the territory by 1998, and the shortfall will increase to 271 classes by 1999. As a temporary measure to meet the shortfall, we are adopting floating classes in secondary schools. In accordance with the Government policy to phase out floating classes in Secondary One to Secondary Five, we propose to construct three secondary schools in the territory to reduce the shortfall. We are planning more schools in the territory to meet the remaining shortfall.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

5. We estimate the capital costs of 207ES, 210ES and 211ES to be $77.6 million, $72 million and $68.6 million respectively in MOD prices (see paragraph 6 below), made up as follows -

A comparison of the standard cost of a secondary school with the project estimates of these three schools is at the Enclosure.

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

7. We have derived the MOD estimates on the basis of the Government’s forecast of trend labour and construction prices for the period 1996 to 2003. In order to tie in with the overall housing project, we will entrust the construction of 211ES to Housing Authority which will incorporate the piling contract for the secondary school into the piling contract for Tin Shui Wai area 31, Phase I, and the building contract into the housing estate development main contract. They will be on a lump-sum basis with provision for price fluctuation because the contract period will last longer than 21 months. D Arch S will tender the other two projects under fixed-price lump-sum contracts because we can define the scope of works in advance, leaving little room for uncertainty.

8. We estimate the annually recurrent expenditure for each school to be $33.2 million. As the new schools will be aided schools, the individual sponsoring body will bear the costs of furniture and equipment, estimated at $5 million for each school.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

9. We consulted the following District Boards and they supported the projects -

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

10. The Director of Environmental Protection (DEP) vetted the environmental assessment study completed by the Director of Housing (D of H) for 211ES in February 1996 and concluded that the proposed school will not be subject to adverse noise impact. For 207ES and 210ES, the consultants of D Arch S completed and DEP vetted the Preliminary Environmental Reviews (PERs) in November 1995 and February 1996 respectively. The PERs concluded that the proposed two schools would be subject to traffic noise impacts in excess of the standards stipulated in the Hong Kong Planning Standards and Guidelines. We will implement the following noise abatement measures and have included the costs of providing these measures in the project estimates -

11. For short term construction impact, we will control noise, dust and site run-off nuisances during construction to conform to established guidelines/standards through the implementation of mitigation measures in relevant contracts.

LAND ACQUISITION

12. The three projects do not require land acquisition.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

13. We included 207ES and 210ES in Category B in July 1996, and 211ES in September 1996.

14. We have completed site investigations for the three projects. We are finalizing working drawings and tender documents using in-house staff. D Arch S plans to start the construction works for 207ES and 210ES in March 1997 for completion in August 1998. D of H will start the construction works for 211ES in December 1996 for completion in May 1999 to tie in with the overall housing development.

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Enclosure to PWSC (96-97)63

A comparison of the standard cost of a secondary school project with the estimated costs of the proposed school projects

* 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 130 nos. of steel H-piles of an average depth of 30 metres.

3. Cost for drainage and external works is for a standard school site area of 6 950 square metres built on a flat site. No diversion of existing utilities or noise mitigation measures are required.

4. No consultancy services are required.

5. Furniture and equipment cost is excluded as it is usually borne by the sponsoring body.

Notes

A. For 207ES and 210ES, piling costs are adjusted to suit individual site conditions and are based on the following -

	207ES	210ES
Type	Bored piles	Steel H-piles
Number	36	150
Depth (metres)	30	35

For 211ES, the piling cost is based on actual tender returned for the piling contract of the housing estate development. The Director of Housing has included a clause in the contract which enables the Government to exclude the piling works for the secondary school if funding approval cannot be obtained.

B. For 210ES, the building cost is higher because the provision of double-glazed windows is required for noise mitigation purposes.

C. For 207ES and 210ES, the building services costs are higher because the provision of air-conditioning is required as a noise mitigation measure.

D. Although $0.3 million and $0.8 million for the construction of noise barrier walls have been included for 207ES and 210ES respectively, the overall costs for drainage and external works are lower due to smaller site areas for both projects which are about 5 900 square metres and 5 600 square metres respectively.

For 211ES, the cost for drainage and external works is also lower due to smaller site area which is about 6 150 square metres.

E. For 211ES, 2% Housing Authority on-cost is required.

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