PWSC(97-98)130
For discussion
on 17 February 1998
ITEM FOR PUBLIC WORKS
SUBCOMMITTEE OF FINANCE COMMITTEE
HEAD 706 - HIGHWAYS
Transport - Roads
714TH - Route 7 - section between Kennedy Town and Aberdeen - investigation and preliminary design
Members are invited to recommend to Finance Committee to upgrade 714TH to Category A at an estimated cost of $66.6 million in money-of-the-day prices.
PROBLEM
The existing road network between Kennedy Town and Aberdeen will not be able to cope with the future traffic demand between the two areas.
PROPOSAL
2. The Director of Highways, with the support of the Secretary for Transport, proposes to upgrade 714TH to Category A at an estimated cost of $66.6 million in money-of-the-day (MOD) prices to engage consultants to undertake the investigation and preliminary design of Route 7 between Kennedy Town and Aberdeen.
PROJECT SCOPE AND NATURE
3. The scope of works for the proposed Route 7 project includes -
- a 2.8-kilometre dual two-lane road on the future Green Island reclamation (which includes a 500-metre down ramp, two tunnels of lengths 600 metres and 500 metres respectively, and a 600-metre road linking the tunnels);
- a 2.0-kilometre dual two-lane road with the associated seawall construction and reclamation of about 10.6 hectares of land from the western end of the future Green Island reclamation to the existing Telegraph Bay reclamation;
- a 1.0-kilometre dual two-lane road on the existing Telegraph Bay reclamation;
- a 900-metre dual two-lane road with the associated seawall construction and reclamation of about 4.8 hectares of land from the existing Telegraph Bay reclamation to the existing Kellett Bay reclamation;
- a 1.3-kilometre dual two-lane road from the existing Kellett Bay reclamation to the junction of Shek Pai Wan Road and Tin Wan Praya Road at Aberdeen;
- slip road connections at Sandy Bay and the existing Telegraph Bay reclamation; and
- associated civil, geotechnical, landscape and drainage works, electrical and mechanical installations, traffic control and surveillance system, and environmental mitigation measures.
4. The scope of the engineering study for Route 7 which we now propose to upgrade to Category A under this project comprises -
- the investigation and preliminary design of the proposed works described in Paragraph 3 above; and
- associated ground investigations.
JUSTIFICATION
5. The proposed Route 7 between Kennedy Town and Aberdeen will help alleviate traffic congestion problems anticipated at existing major road corridors 1 in the western part of Hong Kong. The Updating of the Second Comprehensive Transport Study (CTS-2 Update) recommended that this route should be in place before 2011 in order to meet the forecast traffic increase. In view of the upward revision in population projections for Hong Kong since the CTS-2 Update, we anticipate the traffic demand will increase even further. We plan to commission the route to bring relief to the aforesaid major road corridors and to facilitate access between Southern District and the northshore of Hong Kong Island.
6. We need to proceed now with the investigation and preliminary design for the proposed route to establish its land requirements, as well as the environmental, marine, drainage, traffic and other impacts on the areas concerned. Such information is essential for us to firm up the scope of the proposed road project and is a necessary input for the subsequent detailed design stage.
7. We propose to employ consultants to undertake project 714TH for the investigation and preliminary design and to supervise the associated ground investigation works, as we do not have the necessary in-house resources.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
8. We estimate the cost of this project to be $66.6 million in MOD prices (see paragraph 9 below), made up as follows -
|
|
$ million
|
|
|
(a) Consultants' fees
|
|
39.0
|
|
|
(i) investigation and preliminary design
|
37.0
|
|
|
|
(ii) supervision of ground investigations
|
2.0
|
|
|
|
(b) Electrical and Mechanical Services Trading Fund (EMSTF) charges
|
|
1.0
|
|
|
(c) Ground investigations
|
|
10.0
|
|
|
(d) Contingencies
|
|
5.0
|
|
|
Sub-total
|
|
55.0
|
(at December
1996 prices) |
|
(e) Inflation allowance
|
|
11.6
|
|
|
Total
|
|
66.6
|
(in MOD prices) |
9. Subject to approval, we will phase the expenditure as follows :
|
Year
|
$ million
(Dec 19965)
|
Price
adjustment
factor
|
$ million
(MOD) |
|
1998 - 99
|
35.0
|
1.16358
|
40.7 |
|
1999 - 2000
|
15.0
|
1.26830
|
19.0 |
|
2000 - 2001
|
5.0
|
1.38244
|
6.9 |
|
55.0
|
|
66.6 |
10. We derived the MOD estimate on the basis of Government's forecast of trend labour and construction prices for the period from 1998 to 2001. We will award the consultancy on a lump sum basis without provisions for adjustment due to inflation as the duration of the consultancy will not exceed 12 months. A breakdown by man-months of the estimate for consultants' fees is at the Enclosure. The consultants will supervise the ground investigation works under a contract to be awarded through normal competitive tendering procedures.
11. The proposed investigation and preliminary design will not give rise to any annually recurrent expenditure.
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
12. We consider public consultation unnecessary at the project investigation and preliminary design stage. We will consult the Central and Western District Board, the Southern District Board and the Advisory Council on the Environment when we have finalized the preliminary design of the proposed road project.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
13. The proposed consultancy will not have any adverse environmental implications. As part of the consultancy study, the consultants will conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to identify, predict and assess the potential environmental impacts arising from the proposed road project. The EIA will identify the necessary environmental mitigation measures during the construction and operational phases of the project.
LAND ACQUISITION
14. The proposed investigation and preliminary design work does not involve any land acquisition.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
15. Route 7 is envisaged to be a dual two-lane carriageway starting at the Cross Harbour Tunnel in Causeway Bay and running westward along the northern part of Hong Kong Island up to Kennedy Town. The Route will then follow the coastal line from Kennedy Town and run southward to Aberdeen. The total length of the Route is about 13.5 kilometres.
16. From 1972 to 1997, we completed the section from Causeway Bay to Kennedy Town in stages. The remaining 8-kilometre section of Route 7 will start at Kennedy Town and end at the Shek Pai Wan Road/Aberdeen Praya Road junction in Aberdeen.
17. We examined the alignment and engineering aspects of the remaining section of Route 7 which passes through the future Green Island reclamation under the Green Island Reclamation Feasibility Study 2 in 1993. With increasing emphasis on environmental issues, the Study recommended that two tunnels linked by a dual two-lane road be adopted for the section on the Green Island reclamation.
18. We plan to start the investigation and preliminary design work under this project in July 1998 for completion by July 1999. We plan to commence the detailed design work in February 2000 for completion by May 2003. We aim at starting construction of the section from Aberdeen to the Green Island reclamation in August 2003 for completion by August 2007 and the section on Green Island reclamation in April 2004 for completion by October 2010 in conjunction with the reclamation programme.
19. We circulated an information paper to brief the Panel on Transport of the Provisional Legislative Council on the proposal contained in this paper.
Transport Bureau
February 1998
(EE1126)
1. The existing major road corridors include Pok Fu Lam Road, Wong Chuk Hang Road and Aberdeen Tunnel.
2. chargeable We charged the cost of this study ( $12.6 million in MOD prices ) to 262CL - 'Territorial development strategy - urban area feasibility studies'
Enclosure to PWSC(97-98)130
714TH - Route 7 - section between Kennedy Town and Aberdeen - investigation and preliminary design
Breakdown of estimates for consultants' fees (at December 1996 prices)
|
|
Estimated
Man-
months
|
Average
MPS
salary
point
|
Multiplier
factor
|
Estimated
fee
($million) |
|
(A) Consultant's staff costs
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
(a) Review of the findings of previous feasibility studies, and examination of alignments and design options
|
Professional
Technical
|
34
18
|
40
16
|
3.0
3.0
|
5.6
1.0 |
|
(b) Impact assessments
|
Professional
Technical
|
34
16
|
40
16
|
3.0
3.0
|
5.6
0.9 |
|
(c) Determination of land requirement
|
Professional
Technical
|
10
14
|
40
16
|
3.0
3.0
|
1.7
0.8 |
|
(d) Preliminary design
|
Professional
Technical
|
117
36
|
40
16
|
3.0
3.0
|
19.4
2.0 |
|
(e) Supervision of ground investigations
|
Professional
Technical
|
8
15
|
40
16
|
3.0
2.1
|
1.4
0.6 |
|
|
Total Consultants' s Staff Costs
|
39.0 |
|
(B) Charges by EMSTF
(including checking consultants' submissions and providing technical advice to the Government)of ground investigations
|
|
|
|
| 1.0
|
|
(B) Charges by EMSTF
(including checking consultants' submissions and providing technical advice to the Government)of ground investigations
|
|
|
|
| 1.0
|
|
Consultants' out-of-pocket expenses and reimbursable expenses
|
|
(a) Ground investigations
|
|
|
|
|
10.0 |
|
|
Total
|
5049.0 |
* MPS = Master pay scale
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 1.4.96, MPS pt. 40 = $55,390 p.m., and MPS pt. 16 = $18,595 p.m.) A multiplier factor of 2.1 is applied in the case of site staff supplied by the consultants.
2. Out-of-pocket expenses are the actual costs incurred. The consultant is not entitled to any additional payment for the overheads or profit in respect of these items.
3. The figures given above are based on estimates prepared by the Director of Highways. We will only know the actual man months and actual fees when we have selected the consultant through the usual competitive lump sum fee bid system.
4. Since the establishment of the EMSTF on 1 August 1996 under the Trading Funds Ordinance, government departments are required to pay for design and technical consultancy services for electrical and mechanical (E&M) installations provided by EMSD. The services rendered for this project include checking consultants' submissions on all E&M installations and providing technical advice to the Government on all E&M works and their impacts on the project. The figure above is based on estimates prepared by the Director of Highways. The actual cost for the service charge is subject to further negotiation between the Government and the EMSTF.
(EE1126)
