DEMOLITION OF BLAKE PIER
ONE of the last remaining examples of structural cast iron in Hong Kong, the old Blake Pier at Connaught Road Central, is about to be demolished but not lost to
the colony. Because of its delicate design it will be preserved in the new Ta Kwo Ling Park, where it will again be surrounded by water, but this time the shallow water of a children's boating pool.
Originally built in 1900 the pier had a timber and matshed roof which caught fire once and was often
BLAKE PERT ►
Blake Pier soon to have a new setting
damaged by typhoon. The present roof is probably about 40 years old.
The pier became the official landing stage on the Hong Kong side of the harbour and remained as such until the original Queen's Pier was built in a position now occupied by the Star Ferry car park. The southern half of the new reinforced concrete Blake Pier was opened last month.
ROYAL CHARTER SOUGHT
THE Institution of Engineers, Malaysia, is to seek the approval of the Cabinet for a Royal Charter soon.
Re-elected president of the institution, Mr. Thean Lip Thong, said recently: "The granting of the Charter would be a fitting recognition of the role played by engineers and their contribution to the development and progress achieved in the country.”
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The institution was now enjoying Government re- cognition and corporate members were admissible into the public services, he added. Its total membership stood at 512-an increase of 259 over last year's figures.
NEW BROADCASTING CENTRE
A NEW broadcasting centre is to be built on a site at Pokfulam, Hong Kong. Mr. Donald Brooks, director of broadcasting, announced last month that the Govern- ment had approved the site and preliminary design work would begin in the next few weeks.
Radio Hong Kong will move from is present pre- mises in Mercury House during 1967, when work on the new centre is expected to be complete.
A Canadian firm of architects and engineers, N.J. Pappas and Associates, has been appointed to design and supervise the construction of the building. The firm is now engaged on designing a new radio and television centre for Radio Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur.
SINGAPORE REFINERY CONTRACT
WORK started last month on a contract worth M$4 million for piling and construction of berthing facilities at the Mobil Jurong Refinery, Singapore. The contract has been awarded to Gammon (Malaya) Ltd.
The berths which will be capable of taking up to 80,000 ton tankers are due for completion in November of this year, before the refinery goes on stream early in 1966.
The contract calls for the driving of 474 steel piles, and the construction of pre-cast and prestressed con-
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crete beams and slabs for all the decking wharfs. Gammon have had extensive experience in berth and wharfage construction in the past 15 years. Their contracts have included the Queen's Graving Dock for the Singapore Harbour Board, deepwater berths in Singapore, Johore, Prai and Port Dickson, the Tanah Puteh Wharf in Kuching, and harbour works in Fiji.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
HONG KONG's rate of development continues to accelreate and if measured in terms of the costs of building and public works, the expansion for the year was 35 per cent, with a total expenditure of around HK$1,300 million. Of this total, $590 million was spent by the Public Works Department.
This statement introduces the 1963-64 annual depart- mental report by the acting director of public works, Mr. J.J. Robson, MICE, AMIStructE.
The section dealing with the works of the Architec- tural Office reports that expenditure on new works rose by 30 per cent. to $213,151,000, which was made up of $115,752,000 on resettlement and low cost housing, $60,000,000 on general projects undertaken by the office. $35,804,000 on Government building projects undertaken by private architects and $1,595,000 on works carried out from funds received as a result of the World Refugee Year. A further $7,116,000 was spent on maintenance and alterations and $1,645,000 on works for other departments.
BRIDGE OVER MEKONG
SOUTH VIETMAN Government has approved an immediate start on the construction of a US$8 million bridge over the Mekong River, to link Saigon with the western provinces.
Construction of the bridge will be partly financed by a loan of US$5.6 million from the Japanese Govern- ment. The building contract has been awarded to the Japanese firm, Nippon Koei.
Expected to be completed in 18 months, the bridge will by 1,400 ft. long. It will carry seven lanes of traffic and will have a moveable span in the centre, which can be raised to allow ocean-going ships to pass.
FEWER PLANS APPROVED
EIGHTY-EIGHT plans for new buildings of all types in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories were approved by the Building Authority in April as com- pared with 95 plans approved in March and 112 in April, 1964.
During the same month under review, a total of 90 completed buildings was certified for occupation. Of these, 17 were tenement buildings. 30 were buildings for non-domestic purposes while 43 were for combined domestic and non-domestic purposes.
Cost of new building work in the colony during the month of April was $82,875,302. Another $5,558,176 was spent on site formation work, according to statis- tics published in the Government Gazette.
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New buildings of all types erected totalled including eight factories and godowns, one office and shop, 94 houses and flats and four others.
Brunei Commissioner of Development, Mr. John Lee, recently laid the foundation stone for this Religious Department head- quarters at Belait. The architect is Mr. Ho Kok Yin.
Far East Architect & Builder June, 1965