Major upgrade: Director of Water Supplies Ma Lee-tak speaks at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Dongjiang and Lion Rock Tunnel water mains upgrade.

The four-stage water mains upgrade programme is proceeding well with Stage 3 works to be advanced to the middle of this year, Director of Water Supplies Ma Lee-tak says.

Officiating at the ground-breaking ceremony for the $15 billion Dongjiang and Lion Rock Tunnel water mains upgrade today, Mr Ma said the programme covers 3,000km of aged mains.

"Works under Stage 1 Phase 1 are almost completed, while works under Phase 2 are in full swing. All the contracts under Stage 2 have already begun and we expect the commencement of Stage 3 works will be advanced to mid-2008."

The contract for upgrading the mains is the last of 17 contracts under Stage 2. Costing $223 million, the contract covers the upgrading of 19km of aged water mains in Lo Wu, Tai Wo and the Lion Rock Tunnels.

"We are striving to advance the procedure for hiring consultants for Stage 4 with the aim of starting the investigation and design work in the second half of this year. We fully understand that people want to have ageing water mains replaced as soon as possible to ensure normal water supplies," Mr Ma said. 

To cut the impact of the works on the public, the works must be carried out in stages to avoid water supply disruptions and traffic jams from trench excavation.