to blast and is suitable for road making so that there is no shortage of road-metal in the Colony. The climatic difficulties are no less considerable, since the heavy downpours of rain which are common during the summer months are sufficient to cause grave damage to any road surface which falls short of a high standard of maintenance and the repair of the damage once caused is liable to be made more difficult and expensive by further rains. In spite of these difficulties Hong Kong is reasonably well served with roads. Although the total area of the Colony is only 391 square miles, over 400 miles of roads are maintained, 173 miles of which are on the island of Hong Kong, 106 in Kowloon, and the remainder in the New Territories. About 90% of these roads are of modern metalled construction.
The increasing weight of traffic and the heavy rains during the summer of 1947 caused a progressive deterioration in the roads, weakened as they were by neglect during the period of the Japanese occupation. Repair work was much hampered by lack of plant and quarry facilities, as well as by the weather. Some plant arrived during the year but, in general, delivery from England was far behind schedule.
The quarry at Hok Un had been left in a very bad state by the Japanese, but the framework of the plant remained, and, by much improvisation and repairs carried out locally, aided by portable plant, a satisfactory output was achieved by the middle of the year; the installation of newly arrived plant caused a further progressive improvement. The pre-war quarry at Tsat Tse Mui was completely destroyed, and, to ensure a supply of stone for works on the island, a contract was let for the produc- tion of graded crushed stone from Morrison Hill which eased the situation very considerably. On completion of the contract the quarry will be taken over by Government when plant is available.
Despite these handicaps and a serious shortage of road rollers, a large programme of works was carried through. On the Tai Po Road, at Chek Nai Ping, the pre-war bridge had been replaced by the Japanese by an entirely inadequate culvert, with the result that there was grave danger that the road would be washed away during heavy rains. Advantage was taken of the necessity of replacing this culvert to carry out a realignment of the road over a distance of about mile, eliminating two dangerous bends.
Other major works carried out were the resurfacing of a section of Queen's Road West, a section of Chatham Road, Bon- ham Strand West and various other roads chiefly in the Wanchai and Yaumati areas. The Japanese-constructed road to Sai Kung was improved and resurfaced whilst surface sealing was carried out on about 20 miles of road in various districts. In addition, general repairs and maintenance were carried out throughout the Colony during the year, and about $400,000 worth of damage caused by the heavy rains in the summer was made good.
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