For discussion PWSC(96-97)85
on 8 January 1997

ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS SUBCOMMITTEE
OF FINANCE COMMITTEE

HEAD 703 - BUILDINGS
Education - Tertiary/other
81ET - School Improvement Programme - phase 3 (government schools)

Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee the upgrading of 81ET to Category A at an estimated cost of $451.3 million in money-of-the-day prices for improvement works at 22 government schools in phase 3 of the School Improvement Programme.

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PROBLEM
PROPOSAL
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
JUSTIFICATION
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
LAND ACQUISITION
BACKGOUND INFORMATION
81ET - School Improvement Programme - phase 3 (government schools)

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PROBLEM

Twenty-two existing government primary and secondary schools were built to old planning standards. They do not have enough space and facilities to meet new requirements arising from changes in curriculum and teaching approaches in recent years.

PROPOSAL

2. The Director of Architectural Services (D Arch S), with the support of the Secretary for Education and Manpower, proposes to upgrade 81ET to Category A at an estimated cost of $451.3 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices for improvement works at 22 government schools in phase 3 of the School Improvement Programme (SIP).

PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE

3. Under phase 3 of the SIP, we will provide 22 government schools with the following additional facilities -

Primary schools

1. two remedial teaching rooms, an additional staff room, a staff common room, two interview rooms, a student activity centre and a library; and

Secondary schools

2. additional classrooms, an additional staff room, a staff common room, two interview rooms and a student activity centre.

4. The works in question fall within two categories, i.e. addition/alteration works within the existing school buildings and construction of extensions to the existing school buildings (either as an annex or in the form of roof-top extensions).

JUSTIFICATION

5. The SIP was one of the recommendations of the Education Commission Report No. 5 endorsed by the Governor in Council in February 1993. It aims at improving the quality of education through providing existing primary and secondary schools with additional spaces and facilities for teaching, out-of-class activities and supporting services for both teachers and students.

6. The SIP currently has three phases covering both government and aided schools. The 22 existing government primary and secondary schools we now propose to improve under phase 3 of the SIP have inadequate facilities to meet the requirements arising from changes in curriculum and teaching approaches in recent years.

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

7. We estimate the capital cost of the project to be $451.3 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 8 below), made up as follows -

A breakdown by man-months of the estimate for consultants' fees is at the Enclosure.

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

9. We have derived the MOD estimate on the basis of the Government's forecast of trend labour and construction prices over the period between 1997 and 2000. We will tender the works under a fixed-price lump-sum contract because we can define clearly the scope of works in advance, leaving little room for uncertainty.

10. We estimate the additional annually recurrent expenditure to be $9.35 million.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION

11. In June 1992, we conducted extensive public consultation on the recommendations of Education Commission Report No. 5 which was endorsed by the Governor in Council in February 1993.

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS

12. The Director of Environmental Protection (DEP) completed an Environmental Review in November 1996, and concluded that the project would have no long term environmental impact and an environmental impact assessment was not necessary. For those additional rooms in schools, which are subject to adverse traffic noise impact, we will provide window insulation and/or air-conditioning as recommended in the "Noise Abatement Measures in Schools Programme" at an estimated cost of $1.4 million. These costs have been included in the overall project estimate.

13. For short term impact during construction, we will adhere to the "Recommended Pollution Control Measures for Schools Improvement Programme" as recommended by DEP.

LAND ACQUISITION

14. The project does not require land acquisition.

BACKGOUND INFORMATION

15. We upgraded this project to Category B in September 1995.

16. On 9 February 1996, Finance Committee approved the upgrading of part of 81ET as 83ET, entitled "School Improvement Programme, phase 3 (government schools) - site investigations and consultants' fees" to Category A at an estimated cost of $30.7 million in MOD prices. We appointed consultants in April 1996 to carry out feasibility studies, detailed design and contract documentation for the improvement works. Based on the feasibility studies completed in September 1996, we have prepared the cost estimate for the improvement works. The consultants will complete the detailed design and contract documentation for the improvement works in January 1997 and March 1997 respectively. We plan to start the construction works for phase 3 in April 1997 for completion in June 1998. While our normal practice is to seek funding approval when the project is ready in all aspects to proceed, including the completion of detailed design, we consider it highly desirable in this case to slightly advance the funding process so that the improvement works could commence as early as possible. D Arch S considers that the feasibility studies and the detailed design completed to date provide a realistic basis for the cost estimate.

(EE1044)

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Enclosure to PWSC(96-97)85

81ET - School Improvement Programme - phase 3 (government schools)

Breakdown of the estimate 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. The figures given above are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Architectural Services. We will only know the actual man months and fees when we have selected the consultants through the usual competitive lump sum fee bid system.

(EE1044)

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