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Improper road opening accounted for watermain bursts
Following is a question by the Hon Fred Li and a written reply by the Secretary for Works, Mr Kwong Hon-sang, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
According to the report on the survey of water-main bursts recently published by the Office of the Commissioner for Administrative Complaints, there were a total over 6800 such cases in the territory in the past six years, 28% of which involved water-mains which were directly damaged because of the negligence of road works contractors. In 1995/96 alone, the number of cases involving water-main bursts has gone up sharply by 19% as compared with the average number of such cases in the preceding five financial years. In this connection, will the Administration inform this Council:
Answer
(a)
(b)
(c)
Mr President,
of the reasons for the significant increase in the number of water-main burst cases in 1995/96;
of the current procedures for approving and issuing road-opening permits; and whether, before issuing such permits, adequate measures are taken to advise road works contractors of the exact locations of underground water-mains; if so, of the reasons why nearly 30% of water-main burst cases in the past six years were caused by road works;
whether consideration will be given to amending the relevant legislation with a view to imposing heavier penalties for causing damage to water- mains so as to increase the deterrent effect, as well as requiring road works contractors to pay a deposit in advance in order to facilitate the authorities concerned in recovering the costs for repairing the damaged water-mains; if not, why not?
My answers to the respective parts of the question are as follows:
(a)
One of the main reasons for the increase in number of watermain burst cases in 1995/96 is attributed to the rapid increase in construction activities arising from a large number of major infrastructural and redevelopment projects. Related activities involving road openings for utility services installations and connections are greatly increased as a result of implementing these projects. These road opening activities induce various direct and indirect disturbances to watermains under the road causing some of them to burst.