Page 163 of 498
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
159
criteria for payment of their professional fees, and the conditions under which the Council may deduct payment of the agreed professional fees.'
She said (in Cantonese):—Mr. Chairman. I beg to move the motion standing in my name.
Mr. Chairman, I move this motion today in the hope that the Council will take a hard look at the issue of cost effectiveness as well as to make two recommendations for improvement. This Council commissions the Architectural Services Department each year to carry out many projects. According to the quarterly report of the Capital Works Select Committee, as at the end of March this year, we have 130 recreational projects either under construction or under planning, 25 UC complexes and market projects, 35 public health and cemetery projects and 95 other small projects. Altogether, we are speaking of nearly 300 projects.
In the past three years, this Council spent over $2 billion on capital works and small projects. For the coming year, our estimate in this connection is over $900 million. This Council will have to pay 16% of the cost of these projects to ASD as on-cost. It is estimated that for the year 96/97, we will be paying over $100 million to ASD as on-cost. The $2 billion figure I just referred to has not taken into account the maintenance cost of existing facilities. Our annual maintenance cost is huge. Just for large facilities like the Hong Kong Coliseum, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the City Hall, the Museum of Art, the Science Museum and so on, the direct maintenance cost for last year amounted to more than $90 million. In addition to this figure of $90 million, we had to pay 16% to the ASD as on-cost. If we take into consideration other recreational facilities, complexes etc., the figure would surely be several times more.
Why do we have to commission the Architectural Services Department to co-ordinate construction projects for us? According to the Memorandum of Administrative Arrangements we entered into with Government when we became financially autonomous in 1973, our capital works projects were to be handled by the then Public Works Department (the ASD now). The Memorandum says that in the event the ASD is unable to cope with the projects, it would decide whether or not to contract the projects out. Under such circumstances, the ASD would nominate private architects to do so. In other words, the discretion to contract out would rest with the ASD, not the Urban Council. As the major client of the ASD, we have scrutinized many projects in the last year or more. I can describe my feeling as two 'very's, 'very slow' and 'very expensive'.
I don't have to elaborate on the observation 'very slow'. At almost every meeting, we criticized the serious delay of projects. The most recent example is the Jordan Valley Swimming Pool which has to wait until the next swimming season to be opened. Delays of other projects give rise to the public's query on
Page 163 of 498
Page 163 of 498
Page 163 of 498