*****************************************************

Following is a question on details of various infrastructural projects to be carried out by the Government in the coming five years by the Hon Ng Ching-fai and a written reply by the Secretary for Works, Mr Lee Shing-see, in the Legislative Council meeting today (Wednesday) :

Question:

Will the Government inform this Council :

(a) With regard to the various infrastructural projects, which will cost $240 billion, to be carried out in the coming five years as revealed in the Policy Address this year, of the estimated annual progress and expenditure of each project;

(b) of the other infrastructural projects to be carried out in the coming 10 years and the estimated annual progress and expenditure of each project;

(c) of the estimated numbers of job vacancies and man-years that will be created in each of the coming 10 years by various large infrastuctural projects, broken down by trade and type of work; and

(d) whether the Works Bureau, Transport Bureau, Education and Manpower Bureau and other policy bureaux has set up a coordination mechanism to ensure a proper balance between the supply and demand of construction workers of various types of work in Hong Kong when the construction of various large infrastructural projects are under way; if so, of the details of the coordination mechanism?

Reply :

Madam President,

(a) As the Chief Executive mentioned in the Policy Address, the Administration will continue to invest heavily in physical infrastructure. This is essential to the long-term interest of the Hong Kong Special Administration Region. In the short-term, this will create employment and help economic recovery.

The indicative figure of $240 billion covers the Government's investment in capital infrastructure as well as investments by major corporations on railway projects for a five-year planning horizon. The actual Government capital expenditure for 1997-98 was $25.7 billion and that for 1998-99 was $27.6 billion. For the coming few years, the forecast annual government works expenditure is estimated to be in the rough order of $30 billion on average. In broad terms, therefore, we expect government capital expenditure to total around $140 billion within the five-year planning horizon.

In addition, there are four key railway projects that are under way or under planning, estimated to cost around $100 billion. These include :-

(i)    the KCR Ma On Shan to Tai Wai and Hung Hom to Tsim 

       Sha Tsui Extensions (estimated at $15.1 billion);

(ii)   the KCR Extension to Sheung Shui/Lok Ma Chau 

       (estimated at $8.5 billion);

(iii)  the KCR West Rail Phase I (estimated $51.7 

       billion); and

(iv)   the MTR Tseung Kwan O Extension (estimated at 

       $30.5 billion).

(b) Since we normally earmark funding for capital works projects based on a five-year planning cycle, it is difficult to itemise the estimated annual progress and expenditure for each of the projects to be carried out in the coming 10 years. Nevertheless, we do provide quarterly reports on Public Works Programme to the Public Works Subcommittee and Finance Committee on the programming and expenditure details for all major projects in the Public Works Programme. The last report was issued to Members in September 1999 and the next one is due in December 1999.

At the moment, there are over 1000 government capital works projects already in Category A of the Public Works Programme. About 100 new projects are to start in the coming financial year. Some examples of major projects to start are :-

5-year Total Project

Expenditure Cost

($B) ($B)

South East Kowloon developments 1.4 8.3

North Lantau phase 3 development 2.3 4.0

in Tung Chung

Science Park at Pak Shek Kok-phase 1 1.8 2.4

Route 9 (Tsing Yi to Cheung Sha Wan 2.6 21.4

and Cheung Sha Wan to Shatin)

Route 10 - North Lantau to 2.4 24.8

Yuen Long Highway

(b) For the coming five-year planning horizon, we expect some 230,000 labour man-years will be required arise from government's works related capital expenditure during this period. For the railway works, we expect some 57,000 labour man-years to require in 1999 to 2002.

(c) In August 1998, EMB set up the "Working Group on Training and Retraining for the Construction Industry" to monitor the demand and supply in the construction labour market. The Working Group comprises representatives from relevant policy bureaux and departments, the construction and real estate developers associations, trade unions and training bodies.

One major task of the Working Group is to examine how to redeploy retraining places in various training organisations efficiently, and to improve the training and retraining programme, so as to meet the demand of construction labour in Hong Kong. The Working Group holds meetings, updates demand and supply assessment in the construction labour market on regular basis with a view to formulating corresponding measures.

End/Wednesday, November 17, 1999

NNNN