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Construction works of HK Technical College
Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau Wai-hing and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Michael Leung, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
It is learnt that the Vocational Training Council (VTC) decided in 1994 to demolish the newly-built swimming pool of the Hong Kong Technical College (HKTC) (Chai Wan), which was yet to be used, to make room for the construction of VTC senior staff quarters. Subsequently it further decided to convert the football field of the College into a swimming pool and a basketball court. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
whether it has information to indicate when the VTC made the decision to demolish the swimming pool and erect the staff quarters in its place, and when and why the VTC decided to rebuild the swimming pool;
of the respective costs of the above-mentioned projects;
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whether it is aware of the sites considered by the VTC for the construction of the staff quarters; if so, what these sites are; and why the site of the original swimming pool of the HKTC (Chai Wan) has been selected; and
whether the reconstruction of the above projects will result in a waste of public money; if so, who should be held responsible for this?
Reply:
Mr President,
(a)
In 1991, the VTC started to convert the Chai Wan Technical Institute into the Hong Kong Technical College (Chai Wan) after the Government granted about 1 hectare of land to it. In late 1993, Hong Kong experienced a rapid surge in property rental. As a result, rental charged to the quarters which VTC provided for its senior staff increased significantly. At the same time, there was an increasing demand for staff quarters. In response to these changes, VTC proposed to build their own quarters. The Government approved the proposal since this would significantly reduce Government's subvention for quarter rentals.