CONFIDENTIAL &
機密
Recommendation (2): Electricity
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Walking into the Walled City, one would immediately notice
the seemingly unending clusters of electrical wiring
tenuously clinging to low ceilings, and very often, inter-
twined with dripping water pipes. A report written by
Mainland Fire Command in 1970 records that "two heavy
underground cables and an overhead entanglement of wires
serve 90% of the premises in the Walled City; all wiring
circuits and junctions are very temporary and seem to be
naked of any protection, i.e. it seems that the rules for
safe practice are completely ignored."
The situation is clearly unsatisfactory, and even more keenly felt than the inadequacy of the water supply. The
situation is one which immediately confronts the visitor on
stepping into the dark, dank streets of the Walled City, and one which threatens the residents on every rainy day,
and at each fire. The Power Company admits the danger of the situation, and told CDO(KC) that complaints of sparking
are frequently received and dealt with by the District
Engineer.
At fires, the situation is much more dangerous.
The 1970 Mainland Fire Command Report graphically illustrates the danger:
"Should he (a fireman) enter the narrow passages of
the Kowloon Walled City with his wet fire tunic and steel bottle (breathing apparatus), and go into the smoke, and thereby encounter a bramble of entangled electric wires which were live, he would then most certainly be killed. 11
The same fate may apply to residents escaping from a fire.
Since 1970, the Power Company has stopped installing further
meters in the Walled City mainly because the loading in the
underground cables were saturated. However, the intensive
property redevelopment in the past three years have contributed
to more illegal tappings and added considerably to the overhead entanglements of wiring. Since there was no hope for a legal supply, land developers had resorted to drawing off supplies from existing meters with the agreement of the meter holders
CONFIDENTIAL #B