Water
Design, Construction of impounding and purification works and Distribution.
1.21. The organization chart showing the division of the Department into Headquarters and seven sub-departments is on page vii. The object of the organization is to decentralize wherever possible and day-to-day decisions on virtually all matters, other than departmental policy and the programming of future projects are undertaken by sub-departments. Headquarters concerns itself with departmental policy, future works programmes and co-ordination of the needs of sub-departments. To provide this co-ordination, weekly meetings are held at which Headquarters and sub-departmental representatives consider matters affecting land and development, while similarly staffed meetings to discuss departmental matters are held at quarterly intervals. There is also very close contact between Headquarters and the Colonial Secretariat.
1.22. Early in the year the major parts of all P.W.D. sub-departments, with the exception of the Electrical and Mechanical Office, moved into the new Murray Building. Thus for the first time for a considerable number of years the majority of the sub-departments are grouped together in one building, which makes for considerably better liaison between Headquarters and the sub-departments and a more convenient arrangement for the public. Certain offices which need to be detached, such as the Electrical and Mechanical Office Headquarters at Caroline Hill, the Electrical and Mechanical Workshops at Caroline Hill and Sung Wong Toi Road, the Highways Office Kowloon and New Territories Divisions in Kowloon and the various depots to serve Military Establishments have, for reasons of convenience or geographical expediency, remained in their existing locations.
THE EFFECT OF VACANCIES ON PRODUCTIVE EFFICIENCY
1.23. All sub-departments of P.W.D. are working, to a greater or lesser extent, below strength at the professional/assistant professional level. The Highways Office has probably the greatest deficiency in this respect being some 33% below strength but this is in part due to a recent expansion of that office. The general effect of this deficiency in staff is to delay projects in the Public Works Programme because of lack of staff to deal with them. The alternative is the engagement of consulting engineers, private architects and private quantity surveyors but even this expedient strains the resources of the