traffic and transportation patterns and demands than most other places in- cluding American and European cities.
This data and advice, which has been published and made available to the public, is contined in:-
(a) The Hong Kong Traffic Survey 1960 published by the Roads Research Laboratory and prepared for the fore- runners of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel Company.
(b) The Hong Kong Passenger Transport Survey 1964-1966. prepared under the direction of the Roads Re- search Laboratory and published by the Hong Kong Government in 1967.
(c) The Hong Kong Long Term Road Study prepared by a joint team of British and American Consulting Engineers and published by the Hong Kong Government in 1968.
(d) The Hong Kong Mass Transport Study prepared by the same consul- tants and published by Government in 1967.
(e) Further Mass Transport Studies completed in September last year and based upon the revised population pro- jection of the 1966 by-census.
This mass of data should be studied by any one who wishes to pronounce on our present problems but what must be borne in mind is the increase in car ownership from the dates the surveys were executed: 1 car to 100 heads of population (man, woman and child) in 1960, 1 car to 72 heads in 1966, and 1 car to 44 heads at present. This is very low by comparison with other cities as sophisticated as Hong Kong but then these cities do not have our density of population so that our problems in terms of concentration of cars and hence traffic are potentially infinitely greater.
But this increase in car ownership was forecast most accurately in the 1966 Hong Kong Passenger Transport Survey and present trends suggest a figure of 1 car to 25 persons by 1975 which compounded with population increase could almost double the num- ber of cars on the road. The same sur- vey suggested that Draconian measures would be necessary if growth of vehi- cular ownership was to be restricted.
Our present road construction and improvement programme is based upon the recommendations of the Long Term Road Study updated as necessary and will cost an estimated HK$720 million over the next five years (Appendix XI of the 1971/72 Estimates) which is approaching the
Far East BUILDER, May 1971 Page 27
To restrict car ownership might need 'Draconian measures'
figures which have been approved for expenditure on water and building, the traditional 'big spenders'.
It seems that some new water scheme has been under construction ever since 1859 when Sir Hercules Robinson gave a prize of £1,000 for the design of the first scheme based upon the Pokfulam Reservoir. But for all practical purposes, the High Island Scheme will be the last and after that
we must look to the sea.
It is inevitable that really large scale desalination, probably in con- junction with the generation of elec- tricity will be needed by the end of this decade when consumption of water could have risen from the pre- sent 170 million gallons a day to around 300 million gallons a day, and be increasing at the rate of, say, 20 million gallons a day per year. This
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