Mr. ENGEL. How large an auditorium building are you going to put up? General MEHAFFEY. It is to have a small auditorim for meetings of the medical personnel. Mr. ENGEL. Of what capacity; about how many people would it hold? General MEHAFFEY. 200. Mr. ENGEL. It is for medical meetings? General MEHAFFEY. It is for medical meetings and for demonstrations and things of that kind. Mr. ENGEL. Your justifications state that during the 12-month period July 1, 1946, through June 1, 1947, there were 105,657 outpatient visits to clinics, plus an uncounted number, estimated at 60,000, in-patient visits to these same facilities. I think your clinics, because good clinics sometimes keep them out of the hospital. General MEHAFFEY. Yes, sir. It is a preventive measure. Mr. ENGEL. We will place in the record the table at the bottom of page 50, giving a description and costs totaling $322,000. (The matter above referred to is as follows:) Removal, relocation, and rebuilding of existing structures on site__ 93, 700 Total site preparation.......... 322, 000 Total fiscal year 1949. 412, 000 Mr. ENGEL. The balance of $88,000 is made up of ward 8, section B, $70,400, and wards 17 and 18, section D, $17,600. That is for the pediatrics ward? General MEHAFFEY. It is presently occupied by obstetrics and pediatrics, and what we want to do with ward 8 is to make more private rooms, particularly for the women patients, for whom we have an entirely inadequate number of rooms. The work in section D is to be merely the construction of cubicles to make that ward suitable for tubercular children. REBUILD EAST AND WEST SLIPS, THATCHER FERRY Mr. ENGEL. The next item is to rebuild the east and west slips of Thatcher Ferry, $433,000; $110,000 of which is for rebuilding the east ferry slip and $323,000 for rebuilding the west ferry slip. We will place in the record the break-down of the cost shown at the bottom of page 53 and the top of page 54. (The matter above referred to is as follows:) COSTS The work proposed will consist of the following: East Ferry Slip: 1 1 Existing concrete piers and substructure to remain. Carpentry-heavy creosoted timber 130 thousand board measure at $336.. Structural steel and castings-34 tons at $460. Piling, creosoted wood-1,400 linear feet at $4.60 Painting. $43, 700. 00 15, 640. 00 6, 440. 00 Floating equipment_ Clean-up Temporary buildings Demolition_ Handling materials, incidentals, designs, surveys, division over head, transportation. Electrical work. Total, east ferry slip---. West ferry slip: Carpentry-heavy creosoted timber 244 thousand board measure Carpentry-heavy timber (falsework) 100 thousand board Piling, timber, creosoted-15,000 linear feet at $4.60_ Piling, timber, untreated (falsework) 6,600 linear feet at $1.50- 1, 100. 00 5, 800. 00 1, 200. 00 1, 400. 00 7, 000. 00 26, 720. 00 1, 000. 00 110,000. 00 82, 400. 00 16, 400. 00 69, 000. 00 9, 900. 00 24, 840. 00 1, 400. 00 Handling materials, incidentals, designs, surveys, division over head, transportation_ 18, 800. 00 1, 360. 00 3, 300. 00 23, 000. 00 70, 400. 00 2,200. 00 Electrical work__ Total, west ferry ship.... 323, 000. 00 Mr. ENGEL. Can you give us a brief justification of these items? General MEHAFFEY. These ferry slips are very rapidly going to pieces. They perform a very important function, and if we do not rebuild them, and rebuild them promptly, we will have to discontinue the use of the ferry. As you know, we have an alternative means of getting across the canal, by the bridge which has been built across the Miraflores locks; but, in spite of that fact, these ferries are handling over half a million vehicles a year. If the ferries were out of business, the bridge would be unable, actually, to handle the traffic. I think the two means of getting across the canal are now an absolute necessity. Mr. ENGEL. What would another bridge across there cost? Mr. ENGEL. What does the operation of this ferry cost a year? year. Mr. ENGEL. For the two ferries? General MEHAFFEY. Yes, sir; between $300,000 and $325,000 a year. Mr. ENGEL. That is $625,000 a year for operating the ferries? General MEHAFFEY. No, sir; $325,000 for operating the two ferries. RENEW CRANE TRACKS, BALBOA SHOPS Mr. ENGEL. The next item is to renew the crane tracks at Balboa shops, $306,000. General MEHAFFEY. That is an item for the tracks for the very large crane which you saw in the Mechanical Division, which is absolutely essential for the ships' repair which we do. Because of what turns out to have been an inadequacy of the original design, that track is rapidly going to pieces, and if it is not repaired in the near future we will have to discontinue the operation of that large crane. Mr. ENGEL. We will place in the record the break-down on page 57 which gives the itemization of the various items making up this cost. (The matter above referred to is as follows:) The estimated costs for the work are as follows: Construction and costs (a) Demolition: 1. Remove concrete, 1,300 cubic yards, at $42.15. $54, 800 19, 650 Mr. ENGEL. We gave you authority last year, as I recall it, to try to get some Army surplus equipment. As I remember it, you had some equipment left over from World War I, you secured from the Navy. General MEHAFFEY. Yes. Mr. ENGEL. You were having a little difficulty with that matter. Did you finally get that authority? General MEHAFFEY. Yes; that legislation has been extremely helpful to us, Mr. Chairman. We got three tugs from the Navy Department to replace steam tugs that were becoming very expensive to operate and had just about outlived their useful life. We also obtained a large seagoing tug from the Navy to replace the Favorite, which was our lighthouse tender. In addition to that, we have obtained a considerable amount of machine tools and small equipment which we otherwise would have had to buy. Mr. ENGEL. That is for your shops? General MEHAFFEY. Yes. Mr. ENGEL. Which saved just that much from extra costs. ROAD AND STREET REPLACEMENT Mr. ENGEL. On page 58: Road and street replacement, $300,000. You have on page 59 a break-down showing what roads are going to be repaired, which will be placed in the record at this point. It is under the head "Construction and costs." (The statement referred to follows:) CONSTRUCTION AND COSTS Replacement recommended for fiscal year 1949 is summarized below, and detailed discussions and estimates are furnished for each of the projects listed. Mr. ENGEL. All of that is for construction and replacement of the various roads, Amador, Heights, Gorgas, Limon, and Bolivar Highway. General MEHAFFEY. Yes. We have a large mileage-I do not remember exactly how many miles of road and streets which were built at the time of the construction of the Canal, largely in 1914 and 1915. The asphaltic material of which these old roads were built has almost completely lost its elasticity, and the roads are starting to go to pieces. We believe that unless we undertake a program of replacement over a number of years we may find that all of our roads are failing at once like the one-horse shay. So we have adopted a program which was originally set up for an expenditure of $500,000 to $600,000 a year for the replacement. We have tried to cut that down as much as we can, and this year we are asking for $300,000 for the continuation of the program. I should like to point out, Mr. Chairman, that while we now think these five projects which you have just put into the record are the ones which we will do during the fiscal year 1949, we make some reservation in the justification, because we never know but what some other road, which at the moment looks pretty good, will start deteriorating rapidly during the next rainy season; so we may find that such a condition will force us to use some of the $300,000 we are requesting on some project other than those which are shown in the record. Mr. TIBBOTT. Will these materials have to be shipped from the States? General MEHAFFEY. Practically all; the sand and gravel are produced locally. Mr. MAHON. Was there not a movement on foot to have a cement plant down there? General MEHAFFEY. Yes; Panama is constructing a cement plant. Mr. MAHON. But you do not have it yet? General MEHAFFEY. It is not operating yet. There was some discussion while you were out of the room about the probability that the cost of that cement is not going to be much less than that of cement bought here and shipped to the Canal Zone. DESIGNS AND STUDIES FOR AUDITORIUM Mr. ENGEL. Page 68: Completion of designs and studies for auditorium, section C, high school and junior college, Balboa, $30,000. Mr. ENGEL. What do you propose to build there? General MEHAFFEY. This is an auditorium for the high school. General MEHAFFEY. It would be of concrete. SCHOOL ENROLLMENT Mr. ENGEL. You have a table here showing the school enrollment in the Balboa district at February 28, 1947, at 2,305. And, page 69, you show the population as 7,766 for Ancon, Balboa, and Diablo Heights. General MEHAFFEY. Yes. The proposal is to build an auditorium at Balboa with a seating capacity of approximately 1,000. We have nothing there at the moment where school meetings can be held. There is no community meeting place unless they make use of the movie theaters for that purpose. We have been very severely criticized for the lack of such a facility by the consultants whom we have had down regularly to make sure that our school system is kept up to date. Mr. ENGEL. What would that auditorium cost you; do you have any idea? General MEHAFFEY. Yes. It would cost in the neighborhood of $900,000. Mr. ENGEL. And there are about 8,000 people there. Are there any questions on that item? Mr. TIBBOTT. Mr. Chairman, with reference to this auditorium: How badly is that needed, General? General MEHAFFEY. We think from the viewpoint of schools that a place where the students can be gotten together for lectures and things of that kind is very important. We also think that from a community point of view it is important that we should have an auditorium with a rather large seating capacity in which the members of the community can be brought together for various purposes. We have tried to keep our schools up to date, and practically every year we have brought down consultants from the United States to investigate the school system and to point out deficiencies and to suggest improvements and to offer criticism of the kind of improvements we have. One of the most serious criticisms that has been had by the various consultants is the lack of auditorium in which the students can be gathered together for various purposes in connection with school matters. Mr. TIBBOTT. How many students do you have there? General MEHAFFEY. There are, in that Balboa Zone and Ancon, 2,300. Mr. MAHON. That is one of the most populous and important parts of the zone? General MEHAFFEY. Yes, it is the most populous section of the Canal Zone. Mr. MAHON. And in the whole section of the Canal Zone do you have an auditorium? |