Mr. Danaraj states: "One of the planner's most diffi- cult tasks is to get people to see their own interests in relation to those of the community, and their immediate advantages or disadvantages in the light of future common benefits. They must be able to regard the plan as an idea which they have helped to form and in whose execution they have an interest. They must also be able to know. at least in broad terms, what the public interest is.
"Apart from the allied professions of architecture. engineering or surveying, voluntary bodies, with a less direct interest in planning, can assist in some way the public's greater appreciation of planning. They can help by informing and educating the public on the nature of town planning, its meaning to the ordinary citizen and how it serves the society.
"Planning is a broad subject and is, in many respects, a highly technical matter, but such facets of planning as shopping. journey to work, location of schools and so on are matters which the layman must be competent to ex- press an opinion on. And since the layman is the person who will be affected by town planning, he must first ap- preciate what planning involves."
Mr. Danaraj concludes "The work of planning offers many opportunities for stimulating local interest and sup- port. The planners must develop a two-way communica- tion with the public so that people can ask questions, criticise and make suggestions."
TALLEST IN TAIWAN
THE Taiwan Railway Administration is to erect a 16- storey building, the tallest in Taiwan, in front of the Taipei railway station.
Mr. Lin Tse-pin, director of TRA. announced re- cently that the nine three-storey buildings now occupying the site would be demolished shortly and, subject to the approval of the Provincial Authority, construction work would begin within a few months.
The new building will have 14 floors above ground and two underground levels for car parking. The third. fourth and fifth floors will be used as bank, travel agency and airline offices. The fifth to tenth floors will house the TRA and its subordinate agencies. A concert hall and conference hall are to be built adjoining the new building.
Construction cost for the offices and the two halls is expected to be about NT$300,000,000.
FINAL SECTION OF KAPOK DRIVE
CONSTRUCTION of the final section of Kapok Drive, the new road at present being built over Albany Nullah in the Central district on Hong Kong Island, is expected to begin later this year.
Tenders for the work will be called by Government some time in June. A preliminary notice has been published in the Government Gazette to allow interested
contractors time to prepare alternative designs. Further details may be obtained from the Chief Engineer of the Roads and Drainage Division of the Public Works De- partment at Rodney Block. Hong Kong.
This section of Kapok Drive totals some 800 ft. in length and stretches from the Helena May Institute to the YWCA, where it will merge with Garden Road. It will have a carriageway about 34 ft. in width.
The new Kapok Drive is part of Government's most comprehensive road scheme the Garden Road Com- plex designed to improve traffic flow in the busy busi- ness centre in the Central district. The construction of the final section of the new road, most of which will be in the form of a bridge, will include two slip roads located to the west of the Peak Tram tracks: the widening of a short length of Kennedy Road and certain embankment works required in the project. The two slip roads, which are now under construction, will link Kapok Drive with Kennedy Road.
Kapok Drive will be about 2,700 feet long. Some 1,500 feet of the new road, including the Queen's Road East flyover, is nearing completion and another 400 ft. is still under construction.
BUILDING PLANS APPROVED
THE Building Authority approved a total of 36 new building plans of all types in Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories in March. During the same period. 83 newly completed buildings were certified for occupa- tion as compared with 67 in February. The total in- cluded four for domestic purposes, 32 for non-domestic purposes and 47 for combined domestic and non-domes- tic use.
In addition, the Building Authority also ap- proved the demolition of 16 buildings.
Cost of new building work in the Colony in the month of March amounted to HK$63,530,725, while a total of HK$4,515,429 was spent on site formation work. In the same period there were 82 new buildings of all types erected. This total includes three factories and godowns, nine offices and shops, 58 houses and flats and 12 other buildings of mixed accommodation.
INDUSTRIALISED HOUSING STARTED
WORK has now started on the Municipality of Kuala Lum- pur's first large-scale industrialised building project which involves the construction of seven 17-storey blocks and four four-storey blocks at the Jalan Pekeliling Estate.
The foundations contract has been awarded to United Engineers (Malaysia) Ltd. who are to sink 1,676 Franki piles with a work load of 110 tons each and 244 Franki piles of 67 tons carrying capacity.
The superstructure work, involving the manufacture and placing of precast panels, has already been let to a consortium of Gammon (M) Ltd, and Larsen and Nielsen.
This huge temporary bamboo structure covers the entire site of the proposed TVB television studio complex being erected at Lung Cheung Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It will rise with the new building to an eventual height of six-storeys and is designed as a weather precaution in order to avoid delays in
construction work.
As reported in the September 1966 FEA & B, the complex will include administration offices, studios, re- hearsal areas, scenery shop, changing rooms, hall and canteen. The architects are Eric Cumine Associates.
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Far East Architect & Builder May, 1967