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The Chairman raised no objection and Mr. SALES read the minutes, as follows:
"The Chairman at this point strongly deprecated the shelving of the Kowloon Tsai project by Government and asked when the Kowloon Tsai swimming pool was likely to be ready. The Assistant Director (Amenities & General) reported that tenders for the filtration plant had been called for and it was likely that the pool itself would be ready by May 1962. The delay in the project had been due to staff shortages in the Public Works Department, and the Committee wished it to be recorded that they considered it regrettable that the public in Kowloon should be deprived of the use of a pool which had been paid for by the Jockey Club, for a whole year just because of the Public Works Department's failure to carry out its part in the project."
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-May I point out, Sir, that this work has been done by a private architect and not by the Public Works Department at all.
MR. SALES:-Mr. Chairman, that is not my concern at this moment. The responsibility for the technical side of the construction of the pool, whether contracted to private architects or not, rests still with the relevant Government department. Mr. Chairman, my final question.
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, may I speak first? You mentioned the forecast that the pool was likely to be constructed by May 1962. That forecast was given to us at the time by the firm of private architects. But it was found after tenders were received that the costs were higher than expected, and it was at that point that the whole project had to be re-examined. That accounts for the delay or postponement of the final date.
MR. SALES:-My final question. Having regard to the fact that the Financial Secretary has made a categorical statement that the delay was not due to financial policy, may I ask, Mr. Chairman, to what is the delay ascribed, bearing in mind that 5 years or more will have elapsed over this particular project?
CHAIRMAN: I would prefer not to ascribe the delay to particular persons.
MR. SALES-Thank you very much.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, in the light of what you have said a little while ago, I would like to ask a supplementary question. Since Government had to re-examine the whole project, surely this can be construed as deliberate delay by Government as a result of the financial aspect of the project?
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be construed as deliberate delay by Government as a result of the financial aspect of the project?
CHAIRMAN:-As far as the swimming pool is concerned, Sir, there was no delay as far as I can ascertain financial or otherwise- occasioned through the Public Works Sub-Committee of Finance Committee from May 1960 onwards, when it was agreed that work should proceed on the swimming pool alone. The money was there -$2 million. So as far as the swimming pool is concerned, there was in fact no financial delay from that point. I think that my friend the Director of Public Works would bear me out on that.
DIRECTOR OF Public Works:-Yes, Sir, that is correct.
The only delay was in that it was under-estimated by the private architect originally-the money was not there in order for them to carry out the scheme as planned.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, a supplementary on the answer to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's question. Is this Council, and respectively the public, to understand that when a project is contracted out to a private architect, no responsibility at all attaches to the Public Works Department to ensure that the taxpayers' money is properly and adequately spent?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-The Public Works Department was protecting the expenditure of public money, and that is what has caused what you describe as delays, because the money was not provided, and therefore the work had to be cut down and that is what has raised most of the objections in this Council-the fact that the work was cut down to meet the money that was voted.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I am exercising my right under Standing Order 8, article (13), to ask further supplementary questions on the answers given me. Now, if there is no delay in the mind of the Honourable Director of Public Works over the construction of this pool, could I, through you, ask him what does he consider technically to be the normal time of construction of a swimming pool in Hong Kong, having regard to the fact that the swimming pool had been virtually paid for and also that there was no delay arising from financial policy?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:—I would require notice of that question, Sir.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I would be delighted to give him all the notice he requires.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I would like to seek clarification of what was said by the Honourable Director of Public Works.
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