PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
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during November on public piers at Sha Tau Kok and Kwun Tong and on a reclamation and seawall at Silver Mine Bay.
Typhoon 'Mary' made much repair work necessary to damaged piers, breakwaters and seawalls.
The Materials Testing Laboratory, under the direction of the Port Works Office, made about 18,000 tests on building materials for both Government and private firms. This figure was 80% greater than last year's total and reflects the growing activity of the building industry.
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Land Development. Site formation and reclamation work con- tinued throughout the year at Kwun Tong. So far 133 acres of new land in all have been reclaimed from the sea for industrial and commercial use and 66 acres of barren rocks and eroded. hills have become useful sites for housing and community life. Another site of four acres was formed for a divisional police station at the entrance to a low-lying valley and in March the seawall was extended by 1,300 feet. Sales during the year brought the total area of land sold up to 60 acres.
At King's Park in Kowloon formation of a site for a new Military Hospital made satisfactory progress in association with the work of extending Nairn Road with a dual carriageway up to a round- about at the junction of Gascoigne Road and Chatham Road.
In the New Territories a small arms range was constructed for police training at Smugglers' Ridge, and a rifle classification range at Lo Wu to replace the former Army range at Kai Tak.
After subsoil investigations at! Ngok_Yue Shan in Kwun Tong, Ho Man Tin in Kowloon, and the O Pui Shan area between New Kowloon and the New Territories, draft layout plans were prepared for the development of these areas. In October preliminary in- vestigations began in other areas at Kwun Tong and at Develop- ment Area No 1, south of Kowloon Foothills Road. A report was issued on the practicability of developing Waterloo Road Hill, a 19 acres tract in the heart of Kowloon, into high quality residential sites.
Local Public Works in the New Territories. The New Territories Administration runs a scheme which supplies building materials and so encourages villagers to use their own labour on minor village works which are too small for the Government's public