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How many swimming pools are now under planning and when will construction commence?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION AND AMENITIES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):
Mr. Chairman, this question concerns planning standards for swimming pool complexes and the swimming pool building programme.
At its meeting of the 21st August, 1970, the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee approved a policy to plan for swimming pool complexes on the approximate scale of one per 250,000 of population. By definition, this is Council's policy and, as far as I am aware, the policy has remained unchanged.
(Mr. B. A. BERNACCHI arrived at this point.)
Dealing with the second part of the question, there are at present five items in the Public Works Programme for the building of swimming pool complexes; two in Category A, one in Category B, and two in Category C. Work on one of two Category A items, the Kennedy Town Swimming Pool Complex, is about 85% completed, and the facilities should be available for use by May 1974. Working drawings are in hand for the other Category A item, the Tai Wan (Hung Hom) swimming pool complex, and the target date for completion is 1976. The other urban pool complexes under planning include one for Hammer Hill in Kowloon (Category B), and two others in Category C, one in Kowloon Park at Tsim Sha Tsui and the other at Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island. No firm date can yet be given for commencement of work on these three pools, since planning is only in the early stages.
Although not included as an item in the Public Works Programme, the construction of the Aberdeen Swimming Pool Complex, towards which a donation of $10 million from an anonymous donor has been promised, will also be undertaken by the Public Works Department. A schedule of accommodation has been forwarded to the Architectural Office and a layout plan will be available very soon.
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Besides these new pools, there is a Category B item for the addition of teaching and diving pools to the Victoria Park Swimming Pool. The project has been delayed because the original site for these pools will be affected by a "cut and cover" section of the Mass Transit Line. As a result of this, the layout plans and estimates have had to be revised; as soon as work on these plans is completed, the project will be upgraded to Category A to enable construction work to proceed.
Finally, a Teaching/Training Pool is planned for the Wan Chai area, probably within the proposed new recreation centre to be provided on the reclamation adjoining the Tonnochy Road extension, and a final decision on its precise whereabouts will shortly be made by my Select Committee.
MR. JOHN MACKENZIE (in English):-Mr. Chairman, as the Chai Wan Swimming Pool has been in Category "C" since 1969, the Hammer Hill Swimming Pool in Category "B" since 1971, the Kowloon Park Swimming Pool in Category "C" since 1972, is it not possible that the Council can now review and speed up the processes in order to present a positive programme of swimming pool construction over the next, say, five to seven years?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo (in English):-Mr. Chairman, my Committee will certainly be very interested in doing whatever is possible to speed up those projects.
MR. JOHN MACKENZIE (in English):—Mr. Chairman, in view of our financial autonomy, is it now necessary that we rely solely on the Public Works Department and leave the decisions regarding construction to the arbitrary decision of the Buildings Priorities Committee?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo (in English):--Mr. Chairman, I believe that the delay is not necessarily in the Public Works Department; for instance, our Department's planning staff is also very much understaffed, and I think that the delay may be there rather than in the Public Works Department, although delay in the Public Works Department is also a contributory factor.
MR. JOHN MACKENZIE (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I believe that the delay rests on the arbitrary decisions of the Building Priorities Committee. But my question is: Previously this Council has also discussed the extension of our swimming pool programme to Kowloon
Page 141 of 212
Page 141 of 212
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
How many swimming pools are now under planning and
when will construction commence?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo, CHAIRMAN OF THE RECREATION AND AMENITIES SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows (in English):
Mr. Chairman, this question concerns planning standards for swimming pool complexes and the swimming pool build- ing programme.
At its meeting of the 21st August, 1970, the Recreation and Amenities Select Committee approved a policy to plan for swimming pool complexes on the approximate scale of one per 250,000 of population. By definition, this is Council's policy and, as far as I am aware, the policy has remained unchanged.
(Mr. B. A. BERNACCHI arrived at this point.)
Dealing with the second part of the question, there are at present five items in the Public Works Programme for the building of swimming pool complexes; two in Category A, one in Category B, and two in Category C. Work on one of two Category A items, the Kennedy Town Swim- ming Pool Complex, is about 85% completed, and the facilities should be available for use by May 1974. Work- ing drawings are in hand for the other Category A item, the Tai Wan (Hung Hom) swimming pool complex, and the target date for completion is 1976. The other urban pool complexes under planning include one for Hammer Hill in Kowloon (Category B), and two others in Category C, one in Kowloon Park at Tsim Sha Tsui and the other at Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island. No firm date can yet be given for commencement of work on these three pools, since planning is only in the early stages.
Although not included as an item in the Public Works Pro- gramme, the construction of the Aberdeen Swimming Pool Complex, towards which a donation of $10 million from an anonymous donor has been promised, will also be undertaken by the Public Works Department. A schedule of accommodation has been forwarded to the Architectural Office and a layout plan will be available very soon.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
227
Besides these new pools, there is a Category B item for the addition of teaching and diving pools to the Victoria Park Swimming Pool. The project has been delayed because the original site for these pools will be affected by a "cut and cover" section of the Mass Transit Line. As a result of this, the layout plans and estimates have had to be revised; as soon as work on these plans is completed, the project will be upgraded to Category A to enable construction work to proceed.
Finally, a Teaching/Training Pool is planned for the Wan Chai area, probably within the proposed new recreation centre to be provided on the reclamation adjoining the Tonnochy Road extension, and a final decision on its precise whereabouts will shortly be made by my Select Committee.
MR. JOHN MACKENZIE (in English):-Mr. Chairman, as the Chai Wan Swimming Pool has been in Category "C" since 1969, the Hammer Hill Swimming Pool in Category "B" since 1971, the Kowloon Park Swimming Pool in Category "C" since 1972, is it not possible that the Council can now review and speed up the processes in order to present a positive programme of swimming pool construction over the next, say, five to seven years?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo (in English):-Mr. Chairman, my Com- mittee will certainly be very interested in doing whatever is possible to speed up those projects.
MR. JOHN MACKENZIE (in English):—Mr. Chairman, in view of our financial autonomy, is it now necessary that we rely solely on the Public Works Department and leave the decisions regarding construc- tion to the arbitrary decision of the Buildings Priorities Committee?
MR. KENNETH T. C. Lo (in English):--Mr. Chairman, I believe that the delay is not necessarily in the Public Works Department; for instance, our Department's planning staff is also very much understaffed, and I think that the delay may be there rather than in the Public Works Department, although delay in the Public Works Department is also a contributory factor.
MR. JOHN MACKENZIE (in English):-Mr. Chairman, I believe that the delay rests on the arbitrary decisions of the Building Priorities Committee. But my question is: Previously this Council has also discussed the extension of our swimming pool programme to Kowloon
No comments yet.
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