The problems facing
Hong Kong's PWD
J.J. Robson
On his first project in Hong Kong, Mr. J.J. Robson, the present director of public works, found workmen lighting joss sticks in order to persuade 'sea devils' to loosen their grip on piles which were to be extracted from the harbour. Thus at an early stage, he learned that things were done differently in Hong Kong. In a recent address to the Rotary Club, he explained broadly why things are different, how this affects a department like the PWD, what the present problems are, and how it is hoped to solve them.
GOVERNMENT in its broadest sense concerns land and people or people and land depending upon whether the Government came before or after the people. In Hong Kong we have too lit tle land and too many people. What land we do have must therefore be used as frugally as possible so as to meet as far as practicable the present and future needs of the community.
It is also necessary to generally im- prove the conditions which exist in the older parts of the Colony by setting aside any areas which may become available to make up the existing de- ficiency of open space, hawker ba- zaars, schools, clinics, etc. In the latter respect I wonder if it is appreciated just how much of post-war areas of re- clamation have been used or set aside for public use?
The whole of the Causeway Bay Reclamation, most of the valuable Central Reclamation from the Dock- yard to the west of the Macau Wharves where probably only two more sites will be sold. The greater part of the Wanchai reclamation and much of the Hung Hom, To Kwa Wan, Cheung Sah Wan and Kwai Chung reclamations. If industry is considered as a necessary adjunct to the swollen urban popula- tions then most of Kwun Tong and Kwai Chung and more of the other re- clamations should be included in this category.
planning standards are based upon an average gross density of 516 persons per acre. This seems high? It is high but I make no excuse for it as it is less than the density which the present building legislation will permit and is of about the right order if all our fu- ture population is to live relatively de- cently; and if we are to provide land for hawker bazaars, retail markets, cinemas, restaurants, cooked food stalls.
welfare buildings, primary
schools, secondary schools, civic cen- tres, divisional police stations, sub- divisional police stations, magistracies,
fire
stations,
ambulance stations,
clinics, district general hospitals, ma- ternity hospitals, sanitoria, bus sta- industries, service industries, roads, tions, parking facilities, manufacturing
open space and say 10 per cent for undesignated uses.
Our present population is 4 million and it is assumed that this will rise to 51⁄21⁄2 million by 1986. This latter figure has been reduced from the 7 million projection of the 1961 census as a re- sult of information obtained from the 1966 by-census but analysis of the data provided by the recent full census may suggest that even 52 million by 1986 is too high. In planning for the future, however, it would be unrealis tic to ignore the immediate past and
The Public Works Department's Land reclamation for the new town of Kwai Chung
Far East BUILDER, May 1971
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