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CHAPTER 13
Land, Public Works and Utilities
TO MAINTAIN Hong Kong as a world-class city, continued investment in expanding and upgrading the physical infrastructure is essential. In the financial year 1999–2000, the expenditure on public works projects was $22.7 billion.
In the next five years (2000–01 to 2004-05), about $130 billion will be spent on the Public Works Programme. The programme includes works to expand and improve the transport network; major land formation works; drainage and flood control works; water works; environmental improvement works; and building projects for community use and government offices. Collectively, these projects will help to improve the quality of life and the environment, create additional land for new developments, stimulate economic growth, and provide more job opportunities. To facilitate planning, regular reviews are carried out to assess, in more accurate terms, the demand for infrastructure arising from new developments. These reviews take into account the prevailing forecast of population distribution and the housing development programme.
To ensure that the public works projects under the Public Works Programme, in particular those with high impact, are planned and implemented on time and within budget in a cost-effective manner, measures have been introduced to strengthen the project management skills of staff in the Works Departments, including the setting up of a multi-level system to monitor project progress.
Efforts continue to be made to encourage contractors in both the public and private sectors to maintain a safe and healthy environment at, and adjacent to, their construction sites through the Considerate Contractors Site Award Scheme. Public works contractors have been encouraged to establish more efficient safety management systems through the Pay for Safety Scheme and the Independent Safety Audit Scheme. Apart from providing safety training, contractors are encouraged to practise a Site Safety Cycle to raise the safety awareness of their workers and to pay more attention to housekeeping at their sites. Regulating actions were taken against contractors with poor site safety records.
Safety Advisory Units of the seven Works Departments provide support to staff and monitor the performance of contractors in maintaining a safe and healthy working environment at public works sites. The overall accident rate at these sites in 2000 was about 50 accidents per 1 000 workers, which met the target of fewer than 55 accidents per 1 000 workers per year. This rate is about 30 per cent of the overall construction industry average.
As quality project management is the key to successful delivery of public works projects, all those involved in the implementation of the Public Works Programme