TNAG-0508-FCO40-573-Construction-of-underground-railway-system-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 11

CONFIDENTIAL

機密

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XCC(74)45

(c) clause 13 enables the Director of Public Works to

alter public utility apparatus;

(d) clause 14 enables the Director of Public Works to

cause obstructions to be removed or to remove them himself; and

(e) clause 15 enables the Building Authority to refuse

or withdraw approval for or consent to building plans or the commencement of building works that are incompatible with the building, maintenance, operation or improvement of the railway or to impose conditions in granting approval.

The consequences of any of these measures, other than the refusal of building plans, are expressed in terms of pecuniary loss, damage and disturbance to business, property, land and buildings. The bases on which compensation is to be assessed therefor are set out in items 4 to 5 and 7 to 10 in Part I of the Schedule.

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There are two important points of principle in this part of the bill to which Honourable Members' attention is drawn. The first relates to reimbursing, under item 8 in Part I of the Schedule, the public utilities for the cost of diverting their apparatus and of repairing road surfaces in compliance with a notice served under clause 13., The proposal to make such reimbursements is at variance with the practice by which the Director of Public Works orders the diversion of public utility apparatus at the expense of the public utility companies. However, the Director has satisfied the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council that the Mass Transit Railway Project will generate utility diversions on an unprecedented scale and that it would be unreasonable to expect the public utilities to cooperate with the Government unless they are to be reimbursed their actual costs. The Finance Committee has accordingly voted the necessary provision for this purpose (there is an approved project estimate of $32.4 million in the 1974-75 Estimates under Head 70 Public Works Non-Recurrent: Headquarters Subhead 7(1) Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway: advance construction, utility and traffic diversions) and the Mass Transit Railway Provisional Authority has entered into a series of agreements with the public utilities.

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The second point relates to the refusal or withdrawal of approval for building plans and consent to the commencement of building works. The Building Authority may, under clause 15, refuse or withdraw approval for or consent to building plans or the commencement of building works which are incompatible with the railway and also impose conditions on the granting of approval. Item 10 in Part I of the

CONFIDENTIAL

機密