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Public Works and Utilities
雪味
H
EXPENDITURE on public works, invariably the government's greatest single financial commitment, covers the reclamation of land and the construction of all types of public buildings, as well as the provision of roads, sewers, piers and reservoirs.
Approved expenditure on public_capital works for the 1977-8 financial year is $1,464 million - almost one-fifth of total government expenditure. Of this sum, $256 million is being spent on roads, $183 million on water supplies and $129 million on public housing, in addition to that being spent by the Housing Authority.
Geotechnical Control
Following special reports prepared by consulting engineers and an independent review panel of international experts appointed to investigate the 1976 landslips at Sau Mau Ping, a new Geotechnical Control Office was established within the Public Works Department. The prime task of the new office is to ensure the safety of existing and future slopes on both private and Crown land around inhabited areas.
The new office will approve the design of new slopes and adjacent buildings both in the private and public sectors, and police the standard of supervision on work sites to ensure that works are safely executed. It also will inspect all existing slopes regularly and, if necessary, arrange for landslip preventive works to be carried out.
Buildings
The revival in the building industry that began in 1976 gathered further momentum during the year. With even greater building activity forecast in the public and private sector over the next few years, the industry is now enjoying a boom that is likely to continue for some time. This vastly increased activity in the construction industry has resulted in an acute shortage of skilled labour and led to an overall increase in wage rates of about 25 per cent. This inflationary increase, coupled with the larger volume of work now available to contractors, pushed up tender prices by an estimated 30 per cent over the year. The increase could have been substantially higher had it not been for the fact that, because of a recession in the building industry elsewhere coupled with the strength of the Hong Kong dollar, Hong Kong has had the advantage of being able to obtain building materials at very competitive prices. In fact, the Building Materials Price Index showed a five per cent decrease during the year. Despite the boom conditions, interest in government tenders remained fairly high throughout most of the year, particularly among the smaller firms of contractors. But towards the end of the year, it became evident that even a number of these firms were almost fully