NEWS REVIEW
concrete spillway. This method enables the water retention level at Plover Cove to raise by 17 feet even though the height of the dams will be increas- ed by no more than 12 feet. The cost of re-model- ling the Plover Cove Reservoir to achieve its new capacity is estimated at about HK$32.4 million (US$5.4 million).
Fast lift to serve Hong Kong's tallest building
Otis Elevator Company has won a US$2.48 million contract to supply and install elevators in the 52-storey office building now under construc- tion on Connaught Road, the waterfront of Hong Kong. This is considered to be the largest elevator deal in Asia. The huge building will be the tallest in Hong Kong and one of the tallest in Asia when it is completed in 1974.
A total of 24 passenger elevators and two passenger/firemen's lifts will serve the 52 floors of the building, which will have a total rentable floor area of 720,000 square feet. The elevators, with a
Otis Elevator Company's Hong Kong management team: (from left) C.H. Leung, Sales Manager; William Mallett, General Manager; Gra- ham Hind, Assistant General Manager
speed of 1,400 feet per minute, are considered to be the fastest in Asia.
As the key to the whole project was the elevators because of the height of the building and the necessity to maintain an economical ratio between gross floor area and rentable floor area, Otis Elevator Company had to engineer a special elevator system for this building as no similar building existed in Asia. A wealth of data was compiled on present buildings in Hong Kong, passenger behaviour and local customs and the effect of passenger surges owing to the Star Ferry concourse nearby. This mass of data was transmitt- ed to the Otis Elevator Company's head office in New York and translated into computer termino- logy. Various groupings and systems were fed to the computer to develop a system that would give the greatest flexibility, shortest waiting time and maximum handling capacity.
8
Multi-million dollar sewage programme
The Hong Kong Government has spent HK$54 million (US$9 million) over the last 10 years and plans to spend a further HK$115 million (US$19 million) on a programme of intercepting sewers, specially designed treatment works and submarine outfalls with diffusers.
The multi-million dollar programme will ensure the optimum dilution and dispersion of sewage to a location in the tidal stream where the currents are strongest so that it does not return to shore. The programme also depends upon land being available for the treatment works. Planning for the Hong Kong Island is proceeding on the basis of letting the harbour play its full part in the disposal system but at the same time ensuring that the harbour is not overworked. That means recognis- ing the fact that conditions are satisfactory pro- vided an ecological balance is preserved.
Planners have taken into consideration the pro- tection of bathing beaches as far as possible. This policy has been endorsed by experts in the field of sewage disposal who have visited Hong Kong over the last 20 years and by the report of the consult- ing engineers appointed in 1968 to look into those problems.
A preliminary report received from the consult- ing engineers endorsed the HK$115 million pro- gramme of sewers, treatment works and submarine outfalls which have been mentioned earlier. If the consultants' recommendations were accepted they would require the provision of many valuable acres of land in prime locations on the Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and the New Territories. This would be in direct competition to many other demands for land in those areas and would high- light again the need to control the build-up of population in the urban areas and encourage movement to new towns.
First mass rapid transit subway in Seoul
Construction of a 9.5 km double-track subway for electric trains has been in progress in Seoul, South Korea, since last April. It will link the Seoul Railroad Station to Chongnyangni Railroad Station below one of the busiest streets, Chongno. The project is estimated to cost about US$97 million. Scheduled to go into service in 1974, the subway is expected to take off 20% of Seoul's traffic, which is growing at an annual rate of 10%. It will be able to handle up to 800,000 passenger commuters per hour and the travel time between the two stations will only be 18 minutes. At present, the city has a population of 5 million but about 5.5 million are on the road because the country's major traffic routes converge upon Seoul. Already survey work for four other subways is underway.
Far East BUILDER, August 1971