UK CONFIDENTIAL
25. In 1975 the Hong Kong government accepted recommendations for the con- struction of an extensive, mainly underground system (The Mass Transit Railway) for both the Island and the New Territories. It will link Victoria and Kowloon with an extension to Tsuen Wan (D3) and will involve the building of another cross-harbour tunnel. Completion of the system is expected by the end of 1982.
26.
Roads
The rolling stock park includes:
Diesel locomotives Passenger cars Freight cars
12 114 147
27. Over 2170 km of mainly waterproof surfaced roads, suitable for two-way traffic, provide access to most parts of the Island, Kowloon and the New Territories and a four-lane cross-harbour tunnel, some 1600 m long, links Hong Kong island with the mainland. Lantau island has about 30 km of narrow roads and Tsing Yi island, which is connected to the mainland by a road bridge, has a two-way road serving the tanker terminal. Despite extremes of climate main roads are generally well maintained.
28.
A number of new road construction projects are in progress including a six-lane highway between Tsuen Wan (D3) and Castle Peak (C4) running north of the existing coastal road, and a 15 km stretch of dual-carriage from Kowloon westwards.
29. In 1977 the vehicle park included:
Cars (including taxis) Buses
Goods vehicles (all types)
Telecommunications
129 000
8000 42 800
30. An internal automatic telephone system, serving over a million telephone subscribers, covers Hong Kong, Kowloon, and the New Territories. It is operated under Government franchise by the Hong Kong Telephone Co Ltd.
31. External and international telecommunication services are provided and operated under Government franchise by Cable & Wireless Ltd. The main communi- cation centre is in Victoria, Hong Kong island. International telecommunications are routed via a communication-satellite earth station at Stanley Point, a sub- marine telephone cable, and high frequency radio-telephone/telegraph circuits. The communication-satellite earth station has access to the INTELSAT commercial communication-satellites stationed over the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The sub- marine telephone cable gives access to Sabah, Singapore, Guam, and beyond. The high frequency radio transmitting station is at Cape D'Aguilar (E2) and the receiving station at Mount Butler (D3). A direct tropospheric scatter radio system from D'Aguilar operates to Taiwan and a microwave radio system to Macao. There is also an underground coaxial telephone cable from Hong Kong to Canton giving access to the Peoples Republic of China.
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UK CONFIDENTIAL