the Crown and leases are sold for particular purposes (industrial, commercial, residential, etc) according to zoning standards. Land for public purposes such as schools, hospitals, public utilities, government buildings and public housing is allocated according to planning standards.
27. Since the early 1950's, the Government has recognised the need
to provide adequate housing and living space for the growing population. This programme was greatly expanded in the 1970's and
1980's with the building of six new towns in the New Territories
whose combined populations now total 2 million.
Some of the biggest investments in the territory have involved
transport systems. The first was the Cross Harbour Tunnel, opened
in 1972, which greatly facilitated movement between Hong Kong Island
and Kowloon, previously possible only by ferry. The next was the largely underground Mass Transit Railway (MTR), opened in stages
between 1979 and 1986, which now carries around 2 million passengers
a day. The surface Kowloon Canton Railway (KCR) was also modernised
and electrified at the same time. It now carries some 450,000
passengers a day between the New Territories and the urban area as well as a growing volume of freight to and from China. Four through
trains a day run from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. The KCR Corporation also operates a new light rail system within and between the new towns of Tuen Mun and Yuen Long in the North West New Territories. There is a vast network of bus routes, minibuses, taxis, a tramway
system on Hong Kong Isalnd and a network of ferry services. privately owned, but subject to varying degrees of government regulation. Together with the railways they provide for more than 10 million passenger journeys a day. Almost HK$2,000 million a year is being spent on the road construction programme.
All are
29. A second, or Eastern, Harbour Crossing will be opened later
this year.
It will provide a new cross harbour MTR link as well as a road crossing. Like the first, it is being constructed and operated by a private consortium. By 1992 a new road tunnel will be built, also by private enterprise, thorugh the Kowloon foothills
(Tate's Cairn) to the new town of Shatin.
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