All-out effort for water main burst repair at Lai Chi Kok Road
The Water Supplies Department (WSD) today (September 29) received reports of a water main burst at Lai Chi Kok Road (Kowloon bound) near Cheung Sha Wan Police Station, causing a road subsidence covering an area of about four metres by four metres and is about two metres in depth. It was learnt that a taxi with a passenger stopped in time, and that the taxi driver and the passenger left the taxi before the road subsidence occurred.
The WSD project team, with the Police's assistance and the consent of the taxi owner involved, removed the taxi concerned from the scene, and the WSD would render appropriate assistance to the taxi owner on the claims. During the incident, the taxi driver felt sick and was sent to the hospital for medical check-up. The WSD's management visited the driver at the hospital and expressed condolence to him. The driver was found in a satisfactory condition.
The WSD, after dewatering of ponding water at the scene, conducted a further examination and noticed that a burst occurred at a fresh water pipe of 300 millimetres in diameter, which was connected to a water main of 750 millimetres in diameter. The fresh water pipe was a cast iron pipe laid in the 1960s and is providing fresh water to the vicinity of Cheung Sha Wan. As the WSD immediately stopped the water supply of the pipe concerned and completed a diversion of water supply, the water supply to users near the area was not affected.
Affected by the incident, all lanes of Lai Chi Kok Road (Mong Kok bound) near Butterfly Valley Road are temporary closed and traffic diversions are implemented to facilitate urgent repair works. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to the public and drivers arising from the incident.
The project team is carrying out urgent repair and road reinstatement works. The traffic of Lai Chi Kok Road (Mong Kok bound) fast lane had resumed at around 6pm this afternoon. The traffic of all lanes of Lai Chi Kok Road (Mong Kok bound) is targeted to be resumed before 6am tomorrow (September 30). Also, the WSD had completed ground penetration radar detection in the vicinity near Lai Chi Kok Road (Mong Kok bound). Preliminary detection did not find any irregularities in underground structures nearby. For prudence sake, ground penetration radar detections at Lai Chi Kok Road (Tsuen Wan bound) fast lane have been arranged today and tomorrow.
The WSD is carrying out detailed investigation regarding this incident and will submit a report to the Development Bureau in two weeks.
The WSD is implementing multi-pronged measures, including adopting a "risk-based asset management programme for water mains", establishing approximately 2 400 Water Intelligent Network district metering areas and "main burst hot spots" mechanism, etc, with a view to strengthening the monitoring as well as replacing or rehabilitating specific sections of water mains to reduce the risks of water main bursts or leaks. The number of annual main burst cases has been greatly reduced from round 2 500 in 2000 to 34 cases in 2023. As of August this year, the WSD recorded a total of 20 main burst incidents.
Remarks by SDEV at media session on land sale programme for January to March 2026, tender arrangements for Hung Shui Kiu pilot area under large-scale land disposal and establishment of Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park Company (with video)
Following are the remarks by the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, at a media session today (December 29) on the land sale programme for January to March 2026, the tender arrangements for Hung Shui Kiu pilot area under large-scale land disposal and the establishment of the Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park Company:
Reporter: Some questions on the land parcel tender tomorrow. What are the latest requirements that are different from the original proposal of the land parcel scheme? How would the Government attract developers to bid the land parcels, and is the Government confident in securing a tender, and will similar arrangements be made in the future regarding other large-scale land disposal projects as well? Thank you.
Secretary for Development: Your question is about the first large-scale development pilot area in Hung Shui Kiu. Because for this past year, we have been engaging potential bidders in various discussion forums. We have also conducted a formal expression of interest exercise with written submissions received. So, it is with regard to comments received that we have adjusted some of the parameters for this tender exercise, including, for example, the addition of one additional residential site to improve the viability of the whole land parcel. In all, previously, we have offered two residential sites, but right now, we are offering three residential sites in the entire parcel. And also, we have introduced premium by phases arrangement, and also what I would describe as surrender and offset arrangement to minimise the cash flow burden on the potential bidders. We have also allowed a longer tender period, which is also in response to a particular comment raised by the potential bidders. So, we believe that having made all these adjustments, which are in response to comments made, we are optimistic that we will have good tender bids. And we will assess our tender based on a two-envelope approach, with as high as 70 per cent of the marks going to technical proposals, which is the non-premium part of the tender. And this demonstrates that the importance we attach to the quality of the business enterprises to go into the enterprise land parcels within this large-scale development area.
Reporter: In terms of land sales, how many units are the Government providing in the whole fiscal year? And with the Government providing more than it intended, what does it say about the market outlook? Secondly, regarding the industrial park at Hung Shui Kiu, is there a rough ballpark figure on how much money will the Park Company be granted to operate at the initial phase? And are there any requirements or qualities that the Government is seeking for when appointing board members and the Chief Executive Officer?
Secretary for Development: On your first question, which is about the overall land supply for private housing in the current financial year. As I have tried to set out just now, if all things go smoothly, the overall outturn in terms of land supply for private housing for the current financial year will be able to support 15 750 residential units, which is around 20 per cent above the initial target of 13 200 we have set for this financial year. We are encouraged to see this overshooting because it reflects that the private market is gaining momentum and picking up again. And we are glad to facilitate through our land sales as well, and this is why we are rolling out two sites this quarter, even though we know that we will possibly exceed the target. Because actually, for private housing projects, apart from helping to fulfil the target demand a few years down the road when the projects are completed, the very movement of the projects in terms of kick-starting the planning and the construction works are a kind of economic activity, it helps sustain the employment in the entire development sector from the professionals to frontline workers. And as some of you may have known, actually the unemployment rate for the construction sector is relatively high for the past year compared to other sectors, largely because of the slowing down of the new private housing supply projects. And that's why we are glad to see the market picking up momentum again, and we are willing to facilitate this trend.
On your second question about the Park Company for the Hung Shui Kiu industrial land, right now we have yet to decide the capital injection to be given for this company because it will be decided in the context of the coming Budget. As to the qualifications of the directors and the Chief Executive Officer to be appointed to run this Park Company, I think largely they will have to be people coming from different professions with expertise and experience in the running of different industries. Also, we would very much like our directors and the Chief Executive Officer to have vision and foresight so that they can help Hong Kong lead the way in enterprise development.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the remarks.)
Source: AI-found images
