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towns should come to around 3 million.
(a)
Urban Development and Renewal
60. Since the mid-1970s over a half of the Hong Kong Government's
capital expenditure has been devoted to the new towns. From now on,
however, more attention will be given to improving the environment
of some of the older and more overcrowded parts of the urban area
around the harbour, which currently has a population of some
3 million and contains many of the centres of employment. This process will be assisted by the programme for new harbour
reclamations already mentioned. A key role will be played by a new statutory Land Development Corporation which will be responsible for
acquiring property and undertaking re-development schemes, either on
its own or jointly with other developers.
(e)
61.
Transport
In Hong Kong, with its crowded population and rapid economic
development, considerable resources have to be devoted to expanding
and improving the transport infrastructure in order to accommodate
the steadily increasing demand for the movement of people and goods.
This has been a major preoccupation of the Hong Kong Government for
more than twenty years. In recent years considerable sums have been
spent on developing the strategic road network which is still being
built. This links all parts of the urban area and all the New Towns
and will include substantial border crossings into China. Included
in the network will be a new route from Hong Kong Island to the
North East New Territories, passing through the Eastern Harbour
Crossing (tunnel), now being built by a private consortium at an
estimated cost of HK$ 3.4 billion; a by-pass round the industrial
area of Kwun Tong; and a further tunnel under Tate's Cairn to Sha
Tin, also to be built by the private sector. A new road (Route 5)
is also being constructed, largely in tunnel, between Sha Tin and
Tsuen Wan and will provide an alternative route to the container
port.
62.
The major railway works undertaken over the last decade on
the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) and the Kowloon Canton Railway (KCR)
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