Following is a question by the Hon Abraham Shek and an oral reply by the Secretary for Works, Mr Lee Shing-see, in the Legislative Council meeting today (March 13) :-
Question :
In the light of the recent review of the organization, management and mode of operation of the Architectural Services Department ("ArchSD"), will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the schedule and value of individual contracts of all the outsourcing projects to be awarded by the ArchSD to the private sector in the coming seven years;
(b) of the estimated number of jobs, broken into trades, that will be created in the private sector by the award of these contracts; and
(c) whether it will conduct similar reviews on other departments within the purview of the Works Bureau; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply :
Madam President,
(a) We do not have a ready list of building contracts to be outsourced in the coming seven years. The building works programme, as Members will appreciate, is contingent upon many factors outside the control of the Architectural Services Department (ArchSD), for example, outcome of feasibility studies and public consultation.
ArchSD currently manages 250 active consultancies, covering 100 building projects and 533 projects under the School Improvement Programme, at a total cost of about $45.7Bn, as well as consultancies for maintenance works costing about $0.77Bn.
Of a total of 92 new building projects for 2002-2003, ArchSD is planning to implement 71 of them through outsourcing at an estimated total project value of around $23Bn. Additionally, ArchSD will outsource $1.8Bn of maintenance works in the coming year.
(b) We anticipate that in 2002-03, the outsourcing of ArchSD's new building projects will create a total of about 800 consultancy-related jobs, comprising 480 professional staff (including architects, building services engineers, structural engineers and quantity surveyors) and 320 technical staff (including draftsmen and site supervisory staff). In addition, outsourcing of the maintenance works will create a total of about 300 consultancy-related jobs, comprising 180 professional staff (including building surveyors, structural engineers, building services engineers and quantity surveyors) and 120 technical staff (including draftsmen and site supervisory staff).
In the coming years, upon their construction, these outsourced building works are expected to create an accumulated total of 20,000 labour jobs. The actual timing of creation and distribution of these jobs by trade vary according to the respective programmes and needs of individual projects.
(c) Other Works Departments under the Works Bureau currently deliver most of their projects by outsourcing. Hence there is no similar business review on them at the moment. However, Government will, from time to time, review the operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness of departments in the delivery of their services with a view to achieving higher productivity and improved service quality.
End/Wednesday, March 13, 2002
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