policy had been recently reaffirmed by the Secretary for Education and Manpower and that the objective of the student travel scheme was to provide an educational facility, but he agreed that the present scheme was far from being perfect and that the magnitude of the expenditure had always been the subject of concern. Secretary concluded by saying that the Government was under intense political pressure over the matter of student travel subsidies and such pressure was taken into account by the highest level in the Government in arriving at the present policy.
193.
The
The
Head 194 - Water Supplies Department. Subhead 115. Fuel and lubricating oil. The Water Supplies Department has 20 diesel-operated pumping stations for which light diesel fuel oil is supplied under a Government Supplies Department contract. A recent audit review of the ordering system for the fuel oil in the Water Supplies Department revealed that signed order forms were issued by the department to the contractor before actual requirement and hence without specifying the delivery date, the contractor being notified later by telephone by the pumping station staff of the actual delivery date. average lapse of time between the issue of order forms and the delivery of the fuel oil to the pumping stations for the period September 1983 to April 1984 was 30 days whereas according to the terms of the contract which expired on 29 February 1984, delivery should be made within seven days of the receipt of the order by the contractor. Because of the lapse of time between placing orders and actual delivery, 69 signed order forms involving the purchase of 784,000 litres of light diesel fuel oil were held by the contractor at the expiry date of the contract on 29 February 1984 pending notification of the delivery date. As a result of a lower unit price being obtained under the new contract commencing on 1 March 1984, additional costs amounting to $188,000 were incurred.
194.
In response to my enquiry, the Director of Water Supplies has informed me that he agrees with my findings and that revised ordering procedures have been adopted since January 1985. Under the revised procedures the despatch of orders to the contractor has been streamlined and orders specifying the date of delivery are issued only when fuel oil is needed, the contractor being required to deliver the fuel oil as soon as the order is received. In addition three inspectors, one for Hong Kong Island, one for Kowloon and one for the New Territories, have been made responsible solely for monitoring the ordering process from the issue of the order to delivery to the pumping stations and they have been advised to exercise greater care in monitoring fuel oil orders generally, especially during the changeover period of fuel oil
contracts.