246
HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT
are cleared. Construction of a five-storey Community Centre to serve the Resettlement Estate at Wong Tai Sin, commenced.
Six public latrines and bathhouses were built and a number of others are in varying stages of construction. Innumerable minor works were also completed or are in course of construction, including work on parks and playgrounds, new staff quarters at Government House, some small fire stations, scavenging stores and many others.
Drainage. Water-borne sewage systems are provided in nearly all built-up areas, including the larger towns in the New Terri- tories. As old buildings are replaced by large new blocks of flats, the flow to the sewers is steadily increasing with the result that many of the older sewers are becoming loaded beyond their de- signed capacity necessitating a steady programme of replacement with larger mains. Major schemes have also been approved for the provision of intercepting sewers to eliminate the need for the numerous sea-wall sewer outfalls and to bring the sewage to selected sites where it will be partially treated and discharged through submarine outfalls into deep water. In several cases pump- houses have been installed to raise the sewage in the intercepting sewers when gravity flow to the new outfalls is impossible. The first main sewerage project, covering the Yau Ma Tei area of the Kowloon peninsula, is now in complete operation, whilst two others, one for the eastern side of the Kowloon peninsula and one for the Wan Chai area, are also in operation, although the screening plant has not yet been installed. A start has also been made on the intercepting sewers required for the southern section of the Kowloon peninsula.
Surface water, draining from the hills through built-up areas, was originally led to the sea through large open channels, known locally as nullahs, which passed down the centre of roads, with bridges at road intersections. These nullahs were frequently ten feet or more wide and almost square in section. With the increase in both vehicular and pedestrian traffic it became essential for such obstructions to be removed. During the last seven years work on this has proceeded steadily, and most nullahs in busy traffic routes have now either been decked or culverted. Extensive culvert