“In your hands, O Lord,
we humbly entrust our beloved brother in Christ...
In this life you embraced him with your tender love;
deliver him now from every evil and bid him eternal rest...
The old order has passed away:
welcome him into paradise,
where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain,
but fullness of peace and joy
with your Son and the Holy Spirit
forever and ever... Amen... “ 🙏🏻
可愛可親的、可敬可佩的、無私可貴的 #廖啟智 叔,
懷念您的教導鼓勵、您的鬼馬風趣、您的眼神、您的微笑、您的榜樣⋯ 天家見... 💧
tender and bid 在 港.故事 Facebook 的最佳貼文
#舊日香港 #殖民管治 #供水系統 #大欖涌水塘 #嘉道理
[本地薑建造港版千島湖]
香港行山熱點、有「港版千島湖」之稱的大欖涌水塘,除了是首個戰後興建的水塘,更是一班「本地薑」建築商突破重重阻撓才能成功擔綱的大型基建。
戰後人口膨漲,食水短缺,政府決定起水塘,但就不相信本地建築商有能力承建。有份參與工程的已故羅蘭士‧嘉道理勳爵曾憶述投標期間的困難:
「當時的爭論是誰有能力建造水塘大壩。我堅持本地建築商能夠勝任。但工務局不同意,認為如此大型的工程,一定要找海外承建商。 」
後來大欖涌水塘主壩工程招標,羅蘭士‧嘉道理連繫建新、聯益和祥興三家本地建築公司,組成聯大建築入標 。這個毫無建造水壩經驗的土炮聯盟最終以低價中標,卻遭工務局勸退。
「我收到工務局的電話,對方說:『羅蘭士,你入標價太低,若你現在想退出,我會接受』。我回覆說,我們經驗不足,讓我徵詢一下其他伙伴。但我們再看預算,那是成本加7%利潤,我告訴工務局,我們堅持原本標價。
「對方說:『我不能讓你做這個項目,我要諮詢港督』。這可把我惹惱了,我很清楚我們三家公司有足夠財力應付。據說後葛量洪爵士的回應是:『若他們給香港送大禮,為什麼我們不接受?』」
工程於1953年動工,主壩和一系列隧道和輸水管道如期落成,而且沒有超支。水塘1957年啟用,總容量45億加侖。
左上:大欖涌水塘主壩,1957年; 右上:港督葛量洪(左三)視察水塘工程
下:「港版千島湖」大欖涌水塘 (水務署圖片)
Many of us in Hong Kong enjoy hiking, and for those who have seen Hong Kong’s ‘thousand island lake’ at the Tai Lam Chung reservoir - did you know the history behind the first major infrastructural project post-war?
With the surging population after WWII, Hong Kong was dangerously scarce of water. As such, the colonial administration prioritized the creation of a “giant reservoir”, but had no confidence in local contractors for undertaking what would be the largest and most ambitious water scheme ever proposed in Hong Kong up to that time. The late Lord Lawrence Kadoorie, owner of Hong Kong Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd.(HKECC) who was actively involved in the project, recalled some early obstacles.
“An argument as to who to build this dam took place during which I insisted that local contractors could undertake the work. The D.P.W. disagreed, saying that there was no one here with that capability, and that international contractors would have to be called in when it came to construction work of this magnitude”.
When a tender was put out for the construction of the Tai Lam Chung dam and reservoir, he lined up Lam Woo and Co. and Cheong Hing Co. with HKECC to form Major Contractors to bid this project. The local joint venture was able to offer the lowest bid, about which the administration was skeptical.
“I received a call from the D.P.W. who said, ‘Lawrence, you know your bid is very much too low. Should you wish to withdraw, I will agree.’ I replied ‘This comes of inexperience but I shall consult my partners’. This I did, but after checking the estimate – based on cost plus 7% profit, I informed the D.P.W. that we would stick by our tender.
“He then said, ‘I don’t think I can allow you to do the job. I must consult the Governor’, which annoyed me considerably, since I knew that anyone of the three partners had the financial ability to carry it out.
“In due course, we heard that Sir Alexander Grantham had said, ‘if they want to give Hong Kong a present, why not accept it?’”
Construction commenced in 1953 and was completed by Major Contractors within time and budget. Inaugurated in 1957, the reservoir had storage capacity of 4.5 million gallon.
Top left: Main dam of Tai Lam Chung Reservoir
Top right: Governor Grantham (3rd from left) visiting construction site
Bottom: Hong Kong’s "Thousand Island Lake" (source: Water Supplies Department)