CO129-509-15 Water supply- development scheme 30-1-1928 - 17-1-1929 — Page 173

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ALTERNATIVE SUGGESTIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION.

In view of what is stated before in this report,

and the fact that any tender must contain very large sums for

contingencies that may never arise, I suggest that it is worth

consideration whether the operations in this contract could not

be satisfactorily and more economically carried out by the

Government themselves, departmentally, The materials, the

design and the method of laying are all set out in the

specification and drawings.

It is possible the Government themselves, or the

Harbour Authorities, may be in possession of plant which could

be utilised temporarily for laying the pipes and dredging the

to obtain trench. At any rate, they are in as good a position/plant and

material as any contractor.

The total amount of actual material

required is not great, and could be ordered in the usual way.

The jointing of the pipes is a special operation,

and would be done by the makers of the pipes themselves on the site

whether the work is carried out by a Contræ tor or by the

Government.

The Government should be able to get a thoroughly

good Contractor's Engineer or Agent to supervise the construction,

the operations are simple, and they have as good a command of

labour as any Contractor.

If Messrs. Armstrong's estimate

Tender No.?

of £138,000, is correct, and none of the contingencies mentioned

by them arise to increase the cost, the balance between the actual

estimated cost and total amounts of tenders submitted is

considerable.

I suggest this method of looking at thematter

is worthy of careful consideration, although I put it forward

with diffidence, as I have not personally visited Hong Kong and have

not seen the actual site and surroundings of proposed

works,