PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC WORKS
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At Kai Tak Airport the newly completed Freight Building is now in temporary use as the Terminal Building. Work continued on the phased construction of an aircraft maintenance depot, on a new site within the airport boundaries.
Good progress has been made on the planning of buildings which require to be reprovisioned before the Murray Barracks area reverts to Government.
After many years of planning and detailed work construction of the new City Hall started. The building will occupy a very fine site on the central waterfront of Victoria City, on land not long reclaimed from the sea. The completed City Hall will con- tain a concert hall to seat 1,540 and capable of adaptation for Chinese opera, a small, fully equipped theatre, a ballroom and a banqueting hall with facilities for Eastern and Western cuisine. A tall block, which forms part of the group, will house a marriage registry, a large lending and reference library, lecture theatres and a small museum and art gallery. The buildings will be air- conditioned throughout.
The construction of over 800 rank and file quarters at Cheung Sha Wan for the Police Force, including a 24-classroom school and medical clinic, progressed satisfactorily; while on Hong Kong Island a further scheme of sixty inspectorate married quarters made good progress.
The Prisons Department required alterations and additions at Tai Lam Prison, and two houses for the staff of Chi Ma Wan Prison on Lantau Island were finished. A housing scheme at Victoria Prison, which will provide married quarters for sixteen prison officers, forty two warders, and barrack accommodation for forty single warders, is nearing completion.
The Government's programme of Resettlement Housing has accelerated and 9,831 rooms for some 49,000 settlers were finished in estates at Chai Wan, Lo Fu Ngam, Wong Tai Sin, Jordan Valley, Shek Kip Mei and Kwun Tong. Construction is proceed- ing in these and other estates. In November, H.E. the Officer Administering the Government, Mr. Claude Burgess, unveiled a plaque at Wong Tai Sin to commemorate the completion of the 100th Resettlement Housing Block. Work at Chai Wan on Hong Kong Island included the completion of a flatted factory to accom- modate small industries which are displaced when squatter areas