TNAG-1642-FCO40-2289-Public-finance-in-Hong-Kong-Supplementary-Appropriation-(198-1987 — Page 103

Date:

25.11.86

Time:

2.15 to 5.00

Reporter:

JPM

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MR CHUNG:

Could the Director inform this Committee whether the failure to adjust the estimate project costs had led to the over-design of the two Technical Institutes?

DTEIT:

Sir, much play has been made by the Director of Audit of the words 'over-design': these have never been accepted by the Vocational Training Council, nor really myself. No standards of design had been laid down for Technical Institutes at that particular time and therefore, to say anything was over-designed under those circumstances seems to me that he has no right to say so. Nevertheless, he is right to the extent that the original estimates which were put up by the Department having become cheaper because of the falling Index, then to a designer building at that particular 14 level would have been an 'over-design' to use his words, which I

wish to avoid. But on the other hand, the problems facing the

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architects at the time in a constantly-changing Index was very difficult for them, and they would have constantly had throughout the sketch-plan time to change their plans, and I don't think that would have been possible.

MR CHUNG:

Do you think it should have been a standard

design for all the Institutes in the future?

DTEIT:

Well, in the future I think so, but

happily the Vocational Training Council has no plans to build more

Technical Institutes in the future, although we have agreed that the

procedures which are referred to towards the end of this particular chapter will in fact, rectify it. For example, since this we have been building and almost completed the Chai Wan Technical Institute,

and we have had no particular problems with that Institute.

CHAIRMAN:

Thank you. Mr Cheong?

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e,

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MR CHEONG:

Mr Director, you mentioned about standards

of design for Technical Institutes; is it true that you yourself

believe that it was appropriate to follow the standards in the Hong

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