FRIDAY, NOVEMBM 26, 1982

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THE IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL WELFARE WERE OBVIOUS AND PUBLIC SPENDING IN THIS AREA MIGHT HAVE TO BE CONSIDERABLY

INCREASED, HE SAID.

RECENT IMMIGRANTS FROM CHINA HAD HIGHER LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATES THAN THE LOCAL POPULATION, AND IN GENERAL HAD TAKEN UP JOBS REQUIRING LOWER LEVELS OF SKILL, HE DISCLOSED.

SEVENTY-FOUR PER CENT WERE IN PRODUCTION OCCUPATIONS IN 1981, COMPARED WITH ONLY 48 PER CENT OF THE LOCAL POPULATION WHILE THEIR MEDIAN INCOME WAS ONLY 80 PER CENT OF THE LOCAL WORKERS, MR BREMRIDGE SAID.

FOUNDATION WORK ON GOVERNMENT COMPLEX IN WAN CHAI

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THE BUILDING DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT TODAY AWARDED A $240-MILLION CONTRACT TO KUMAGAI GUMI (HONG KONG) LTD. FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A TWO-LEVEL BASEMENT AND FOUNDATIONS ON A WAN CHAI RECLAMATION SITE EARMARKED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A GOVERNMENT COMPLEX.

THE CONTRACT, ONE OF THE BIGGEST AWARDED BY THE DEPARTMENT THIS YEAR, WAS FORMALLY SIGNED THIS MORNING BY THE DIRECTOR OF BUILDING DEVELOPMENT, MR D.W.T. MOK, AND MR C.P. YU AND MR T. NAKAYAMA OF THE CONSTRUCTION COMPANY.

MR MOK SAID THE GOVERNMENT COMPLEX, ESTIMATED TO COST $1.5 BILLION AT CURRENT PRICES, WOULD BE BUILT ON THE

19 000-SQUARE-METRE SITE BOUNDED BY HARBOUR ROAD TO THE NORTH AND GLOUCESTER ROAD TO THE SOUTH, NEXT TO THE HONG KONG ARTS CENTRE.

+AFTER THE COMPLETION OF THIS CONTRACT IN ABOUT TWO YEARS' TIME SIX BLOCKS OF GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS WILL BE CONSTRUCTED ABOVÉ THE BASEMENT WHICH WILL HAVE PARKING SPACES FOR 400 GOVERNMENT VEHICLES AND AN AIR-CONDITIONING PLANT FOR THE ENTIRE COMPLEX,+ MR MOK SAID,

THE SIX BUILDINGS INCLUDE A DISTRICT COURT/MAGISTRACY BUILDING, A SCIENCE BUILDING, A PUBLIC CAR PARK, A FIRE STATION AND TWO OFFICE TOWERS.

+THE DISTRICT COURT/MAGISTRACY BUILDING WILL BE 30 STOREYS HIGH WITH 30 000 SQUARE METRES OF FLOOR AREA FOR DISTRICT AND MAGISTRACY COURTS ON THE LOWER FLOORS AND 27 000 SQUARE METRES OF GOVERNMENT OFFICES ON THE UPPER FLOORS, MR MOK SAID.

+THE GOVERNMENT SCIENCE BUILDING, WHICH WILL BE 19 STOREYS HIGH AND PROVIDE 22 000 SQUARE METRES OF ACCOMMODATION FOR GOVERNMENT LABORATORIES, WILL BE ERECTED ABOVE AN EIGHT-STOREY PUBLIC CAR PARK BUILDING THAT WILL PROVIDE PARKING SPACE FOR ABOUT 600 PRIVATE CARS.+

THE SUB-DIVISIONAL FIRE STATION INCLUDED IN THE COMPLEX WOULD BE A FOUR-STOREY BUILDING.

/ME MOK

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