XN000022-1983-08-01 — Page 2

MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 1983

$232-MILLION CONTRACT FOR GOVERNMENT BUILDING *****

THE BUILDING DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT TODAY (MONDAY) AWARDED A $232-MILLION CONTRACT TO GAMMON BUILDING CONSTRUCTION LTD, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A GOVERNMENT OFFICE BUILDING AT QUEENSWAY.

THE CONTRACT, ONE OF THE BIGGEST LET BY THE DEPARTMENT THIS YEAR, WAS SIGNED THIS MORNING BY MR JOSE LEI, ACTING DIRECTOR OF BUILDING DEVELOPMENT, AND MR G.E. LONG, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE COMPANY.

THE BUILDING, TO BE SITUATED JUST NEXT TO THE NEW SUPREME COURT BUILDING NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION AT QUEENSWAY, WILL BE COMPLETED IN ABOUT 36 MONTHS.

THE NEW BUILDING WILL BE 47 STOREYS HIGH WITH A FOUR-STOREY PODIUM. ADJACENT TO IT WILL BE A SEVEN-STOREY +L+ SHAPE BLOCK.

UPON COMPLETION TOWARDS THE END OF 1986, MR LEI SAID, THE NEW BUILDING WOULD PROVIDE ABOUT 54 000 SQUARE METRES OF OFFICE ACCOMMODATION AND CAR PARKING FACILITIES.

THIS IS ONE OF THE OFFICE COMPLEXES BEING BUILT BY THE GOVERNMENT TO HELP REDUCE THE SHORTFALL OF GOVERNMENT OFFICE ACCOMMODATION.

ALSO UNDER CONSTRUCTION, HE SAID, WERE AN EIGHT-STOREY BLOCK IN SAI KUNG, A NINE-STOREY BUILDING ABOVE THE SHA TIN RAILWAY STATION, A SEVEN-STOREY BLOCK IN TUEN MUN TOWN CENTRE AND THE 27-STOREY HARBOUR BUILDING IN CENTRAL.

*THE LARGEST OF ALL WILL BE THE GOVERNMENT COMPLEX AT HARBOUR ROAD ON WAN CHAI RECLAMATION, HE SAID.

THE COMPLEX, ESTIMATED TO COST ABOUT $1.5 BILLION, WILL COMPRISE SIX BLOCKS OF GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS - A DISTRICT/ MAGISTRACY BUILDING, A SCIENCE BUILDING, A PUBLIC CAR PARK, A FIRE STATION AND TWO OFFICE TOWERS.

MR LEI SAID THAT THE TWO OFFICE TOWERS, BOTH OF THEM 49 STOREYS HIGH, WOULD PROVIDE A TOTAL OF 200 000 SQUARE METRES OF GOVERNMENT OFFICE SPACE.

+ALL THESE, WHEN COMPLETED, WILL GO A LONG WAY TOWARD MEETING THE GOVERNMENT OFFICE SPACE REQUIREMENT, HE ADDED.

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