PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
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Port Works. A further stage of the Central Reclamation Scheme -the long-term plan for providing more land along the Victoria waterfront was started. Dredging, in preparation for a 700-foot seawall to the west of the Star Ferry Piers, is now in progress. Work also started on the construction of a large pier to cater for the many small craft that require berths in this area.
At North Point and Ma Tau Kok, work began on the construc- tion of new vehicular ferry piers which will give a much needed service for vehicles between North Point and Kowloon City. A small reclamation was formed at the North Point site to give a larger concourse area. Nearby, work was started on a new passenger ferry pier for services to Kowloon City.
Prestressed concrete was used for the first time on a large project in Hong Kong in the building of piers at Sha Tau Kok and Kwun Tong. The pier at Sha Tau Kok is over 1,000 feet long. Both piers were built mainly of precast units which were manufactured in a well-equipped prestressing yard established by the contractor.
New public piers built at Lai Chi Chong and Sham Chung in Tolo Harbour will improve communications with a remote area of the Colony which hitherto could only be reached with difficulty from the sea or on foot. Small piers were also built on Lam Tong Island for the Department of Civil Aviation Radio Station and at Shek Kwu Chau Island, together with a seawall, as the first stage in the construction of the Drug Addicts Treatment and Rehabilita- tion Centre.
Work started on an additional 2,000 feet of seawall at Kwun Tong to permit a further 60 acres of reclamation to be carried out. Similar work undertaken at Silver Mine Bay has provided six acres of reclamation which will be used as a ferry and vehicular con- course for south and east Lantau Island.
The Hydraulics Research Station at Wallingford, Berkshire, continued tests on the scale model of Hong Kong Harbour to discover the effect of reclamation and piers on the tidal currents and reports were produced on the effect of the piers of a possible cross harbour bridge. The Research Station also made a model of part of the Aberdeen Channel and investigated the effect of waves on breakwaters placed across it to determine the best position for them.