The Economic Development & Labour Bureau has proposed replacing the Observatory's high-performance computing system at an estimated non-recurrent cost of $48.5 million to support its weather forecasting and warning services.

In a paper submitted to the Legislative Council today, the bureau said the existing system had already reached the end of its serviceable life and was relatively outdated compared with current technology.

With the proposed replacement, the observatory's capacity in applying the latest Numerical Weather Prediction technology will be strengthened.

Its forecasters will have more timely and detailed guidance for formulating weather forecasts and time-critical warnings of inclement weather.

Recurrent expenditure

The additional recurrent expenditure arising from the project is estimated to be $500,000 for 2008-09 and $4.03 million from 2009-10 onwards.

The bureau and the observatory will absorb from within their existing resources the additional recurrent expenditure.

No additional staff will be required as existing staff will be deployed to operate the new system.