REVIEW OF THE YEAR
public auction, but that, to ensure best use of the land, bidding would be confined to approved applicants. It was announced also that the Government would be prepared to accept payment in instalments over twenty-one years at 5% interest, instead of in the normal form of a lump sum. This is primarily to encourage small industries without large capital backing.
The contract for constructing what amounts to an entirely new airfield at Kai Tak was let to a French company, the Société Française d'Entreprises de Dragages et de Travaux Publics. The contract, worth about $90,000,000, is the most valuable ever let in Hong Kong. With a new terminal and other buildings, the total cost of the new airport is expected to reach $110,000,000.
The new reservoir at Tai Lam Chung is in an advanced stage of construction, and it may be possible to close the valves and begin storing water by May 1956, although distribution will not be possible till some time later. Although this reservoir, being constructed to hold 4,500,000,000 gallons, should eliminate the danger of a really serious water shortage (such as the Colony has only narrowly escaped several times since the war), it can already be seen, from the growth of population and industry, that its supply will not be sufficient to provide the Colony with water all the year round without restrictions. Hours of water supply in the urban areas may be expected to be longer than at present when the reservoir and its connexions are completed, but some restrictions will still have to be enforced.
In consequence, preliminary investigations were begun at Shek Pik, on the south coast of Lantao Island, to determine whether or not it would be a feasible site for yet another major reservoir. If the scheme proves feasible, and is finally decided on, it will in some ways be an even more ambitious scheme than Tai Lam Chung, due chiefly to the distance involved. Water would have to be piped to some point on the eastern end of Lantao Island, and thence under the sea, either direct to Hong Kong Island, or across the narrower strait between Lantao and the mainland near Sham Tseng, thence overland to Kowloon.
Regarding the proposal referred to above to construct a tunnel under the harbour, the consulting engineers engaged by the Government to examine the possibility presented their Report, which was published in August. It showed that