Sewerage works in Central adopts new contract management (31/3/1998)

The Government will adopt a new contract management method in carrying out a sewerage improvement project in Central and Western to reduce the impact on people's
livelihood caused by excavating roads.

A spokesman for the Drainage Services Department (DSD) said today (Tuesday) that about 10 kilometres of existing sewers would be reconstructed under the contract - "Central and Western Interceptor and Reticulation Sewers - Upper Catchment".

Under the contract, sewers ranging from 22.5 centimetres to 105 centimetres in diameter will be reprovisioned in residential and business areas at Pok Fu Lam Road, Bonham Road, Caine Road, Hollywood Road, Robinson Road, Conduit Road and Queen's Road Central.

"Upon completion of the works, it will improve the capacity of the existing sewers to cater for future increase in sewage. The maintenance costs as well as pollution to stormwater drains will be reduced following the removal of improper connections," the spokesman said.

During the construction, excavation of roads will be controlled by way of Works Orders issued to the contractor.

An engineering consultancy firm - which has been commissioned to supervise and monitor the project - will be responsible for issuing the orders.

The consultant engineer will assess the impact of road opening to the public as well as traffic conditions.

They will only issue such an order when they are satisfied with the safety measures to be adopted by the contractor, the actual site conditions and the contractor's readily available resources.

"The mechanism can keep the number and extent of road openings to a minimum at any time. This will in turn help ensure timely completion of the project," he added.

The works are due to begin in April for completion in three years.

The contract was awarded to Sun Fook Kong (Civil) Limited at a cost of about $213 million. The project will be supervised by the Maunsell Consultants Asia Limited on behalf of the DSD.

End/Tuesday, March 31, 1998