1
22
44.
From now on, however, redevelopment in the
older urban areas will become an increasing priority. The new land required for this will have to come from harbour reclamations. It is already clear to that a greater proportion of the resources available for capital investment will have to go towards expanding the
essential economic infrastructure of the territory, especially our port facilities. The rapid growth of cargo traffic, particularly container traffic, makes this
essential.
-
45.
Last year, the
the port handled a record 14,100
ocean-going vessels and 82,000 river trade vessels; and
the numbers of both have been steadily growing in recent
years. The number of containers handled has also
per cent increased by as much as 50in three years. Expansion is expected to continue in the next few years by an average
per cent of at least a year. It has been boosted by the rapid
growth, over almost a decade now, of Hong Kong's role as
an entrepot and transhipment centre for China, in line
with the expansion of China's own world trade. We now
possess the second largest container port in the world in
terms of
of throughput and may soon become the
the largest.
Port expansion must therefore be our first priority for
/maintaining
in