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MR. SALES: -May this Council know what steps are being taken to ensure that the contractor catches up with the work schedule?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: Mr. Chairman, I have discussed this with the Architect in charge of the work and he is doing all in his power to persuade the contractor to proceed with the work schedule as diligently as the contractor is able to do.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, is the contractor working around the clock to catch up with the schedule? That is the question I would like to have answered.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -As far as I am aware, Mr. Chairman, the contractor is not working around the clock.
CHAIRMAN: -Sir, when I visited the site last week I was assured by the Assistant Director (Amenities and General), who had paid several visits to the site before that, that there was a good deal more activity going on then than had been the case previously.
MR. SALES: Mr. Chairman, I am very much obliged to you for the energy you have shown. However, I would still like to know whether in effect the pool will be opened to the public at the start of the next season, not after the swimming season is over in Hong Kong. May I have an assurance on that?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -The Member, Mr. Chairman, can have no such assurance from any member of this authority.
MR. SALES: Which authority?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -From this Council, Mr. Chairman.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I would like this question to be very seriously considered. In cases such as the Kowloon Tsai swimming pool where public work is carried out at public expense and the contract is given out to a private firm, to what extent is the public interest safeguarded by Government to ensure that the work is carried out in a manner which can reasonably be expected? It is a most important question, Mr. Chairman, and if you wish to have notice of it, I would be very happy to have a written reply afterwards. Whose responsibility it is to ensure that the public interest is served and not prejudiced?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -I suggest, Mr. Chairman, that it should be given in the form of a written reply.
CHAIRMAN: -We will act on your suggestion, Sir.
MR. SALES: -Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
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MR. BERNACCHI: -Mr. Chairman, perhaps in giving the written reply, a review of the whole contractor system could be given and also the reasons why the Public Works Department do not do the work themselves, because that would, on the face of it, be far preferable to the present contractor system and the delays which we are so often coming across in such work.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: Mr. Chairman, can we understand from the replies which you have given, and which the Honourable Director of Public Works has given, that the completion of the swimming pool may be highly probable and not just possible as mentioned in the last sentence of your reply?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -Mr. Chairman, I think that question is out of order under Standing Order 8, sub-section (11).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -Mr. Chairman, what is that Standing Order?
MR. SALES: The ruling must come from the chair.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -On a point of order, may I ask which Standing Order that is?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -Standing Order 8, sub-section (11).
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -In clarification, may I say I was asking for clarification, based on what has been said in the supplementary answers.
CHAIRMAN: -Sir, strictly speaking, the question may be out of order. However, I appreciate your interest in this matter and all I can say is that I do not think that it is possible to say anything more than was said in my original reply. That is, that the Architects will do everything they can to make the opening of the pool possible. I do not think that it would be useful to go beyond that at this stage.
DR. BELL: -Mr. Chairman, do you mean that it may be possible to open it but not possible to dive into it? (Laughter).
MR. SALES: That is what I fear too.
CHAIRMAN: I had in my mind that if His Excellency is going to open the pool on 7th March it will by then be full of water. (Laughter).
MR. A. de O. SALES asked the following question:--
(a) May this Council also have a report on the Kowloon Tsai Park?
(b) When will the other recreational facilities be open to the public?
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