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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Up to now, the Department has not received any claim for compensation. Should there be any such claim, the Department will seek advice from its legal adviser and refer the case to the insurance company concerned for follow-up.
The third part of the question asks about the reasons why some facilities of the 2 UC leisure pools were not completed when they opened last year and the situation about these facilities in the current swimming season.
In fact, there had been considerable delays in the construction programmes of the 2 UC leisure pools last year. As a result, the 2 leisure pools could not be opened for public use at the beginning of the last swimming season. However, in order to meet the public's aspiration and to open the 2 leisure pools for public use before the end of the summer vacation 1996, the Department began to conduct tests on the facilities which were available, especially on the operation of the service room and water quality of the pools, before the whole project was completed. The pools were opened to the public upon confirmation that the test results were satisfactory and that the facilities were safe for use and their basic operations were in normal condition.
When the Hammer Hill Road Leisure Pool opened to the public in mid-August last year, 5 of its facilities were not yet completed, which include: installation of the water circulation system for the foot bath, interior decoration for the swimming pool's canteen, plantation on slopes and surrounds, sitting-out area, decoration for the parking area and the vehicular access road, and the display of artificial plants in the indoor swimming pools. For the Jordan Valley Leisure Pool, 7 of its facilities were not yet completed when it opened last year, which were: basic decoration for the swimming pool's canteen, construction of landscaping and water features outside the pool's canteen, works on the pool's surrounds and parking area, the silting-up problem of the foot bath, demolition of the stairs between the foot bath and the toilet for the disabled, slope protection works, and the installation of emergency illumination system.
When the current swimming season started, 2 facilities, viz. the installation of the water circulation system for the foot bath and the interior decoration for the swimming pool's canteen, were still not completed in the Hammer Hill Road Leisure Pool. As for the Jordan Valley Leisure Pool, 5 facilities, including the basic decoration for the swimming pool's canteen, construction of landscaping and water features outside the pool's canteen, works on the pool's surrounds and parking area, the silting-up problem of the foot bath, and demolition of the stairs between the foot bath and the toilet for the disabled, were still not completed.
The unfinished works will be followed up by the respective architects of the Architectural Services Department.
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