Contract awarded: Assistant Director of Water Supplies Ng Chi-ho (left) exchanges documents with a Pollard Construction Company representative after signing the contract for San Tin and Pak Shek Au.

The Water Supplies Department has awarded two contracts totalling $108 million for the replacement and rehabilitation of 40 kilometres of aged water mains in San Tin, Pak Shek Au and Kwai Tsing. Works will start on January 31 for completion in 2011.

These were the first two contracts awarded under stage two of the city-wide water mains replacement and rehabilitation programme. More details about the programme are available here.

Assistant Director of Water Supplies Ng Chi-ho said the comprehensive water mains improvement programme will progressively reduce incidents of burst water mains and leakage.

In view of the heavy traffic in Kwai Tsing, about 40% of the construction works will adopt the no-dig construction method to minimise traffic disruption. In the vicinity of the container terminal and critical road junctions, construction works will be carried out in off-peak hours, Sundays, public holidays and even at night.