242
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
a pier at Tsing Yi Island which was a great convenience for passengers who had formerly to be carried by sampans to and from ferries. The new pier added to the popularity of Hong Kong/ Tsing Yi/Tsuen Wan ferry service which carried 773,000 passen- gers in 1959.
New construction consisted of one single-ended steel ferry vessel, the 'Man Ning', and a double-ended steel passenger ferry vessel, the 'Man Kam'. The latter was launched in December and will join the fleet in January 1960. The Company's Tai Kok Tsui Depot with its three slipways carried out continuous maintenance work on the fleet throughout the year.
PUBLIC WORKS
Port Works and Development. Further reclamation at Kwun Tong brought the total area of new land to eighty seven acres of which half has been sold for factory sites. Spoil for the reclama- tion was obtained from the neighbouring foothills where the areas levelled provide a further twenty seven acres suitable for residen- tial and community purposes. In October work commenced on 1,300 ft. extension to the sea wall to provide a further fifty acres of new land, and in December the first steps were taken in the construction of a police station to serve the area.
A sea wall was built in the Yau Ma Tei Typhoon Shelter to permit the extension of Tong Mi Road. Ultimately this road will connect the Jordan Road Vehicular Ferry pier to Tsuen Wan by way of the reclamation at Cheung Sha Wan.
Formation of a site for a new hospital for the Armed Services at King's Park, Kowloon, commenced towards the end of the year. The extension of Nairn Road with dual carriageways to a roundabout at the junction of Gascoigne Road and Chatham Road is associated with the work.
In the New Territories a typhoon shelter was formed by the construction of three breakwaters between Tsing Yi Island and Nga Ying Chau; four piers for use by the public and by ferry services were built at Tsuen Wan, Tsing Yi Island, Sok Kwu Wan (Lamma Island) and Kei Ling Ha Hoi in Tolo Harbour. A new ferry pier and sea wall at Cheung Chau are also being constructed.