PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
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Ultimately, with the completion of stage two of the Plover Cove Scheme, the summer surplus yield of the streams round the head of Tolo Harbour will be stored at Plover Cove in a reservoir to be formed by damming an almost landlocked bay to form a fresh water lake. The main wall of this dam will be 14 miles long with a maximum height of 120 feet, of which 90 feet will be below sea level. The lake will have an area of 2,750 acres and a capacity of about 30,000 million gallons, which is nearly three times the present storage capacity of the Colony's reservoirs. Also in stage two the yield from the natural catchment of Plover Cove will be extended by tunnels and catchwater channels to bring in part of the yield from a range of hills to the north. At the same time the capacity of the treatment works will be doubled. Messrs Binnie and Partners, together with Messrs Scott and Wilson, Kirkpatrick and Partners, have been appointed consulting engineers for the project. Construction work for stage two is expected to start in 1963. It will take several years to complete and will cost an estimated $335 million. Total cost of stages one and two is estimated to be $500 million, which makes it not only the most costly construction project ever carried out in Hong Kong but also one of the world's major engineering projects.
The Tai Lam Chung Reservoir was opened on 7th May 1957, and since then the indirect catchment area has been extended by the construction of open concrete-lined channels and tunnels. With- out this extra yield the reservoir would not fill during an average wet season. In anticipation of the increased yields to be derived from the major schemes described above, and the ever- increasing demand due to expanding development, numerous works of a comparatively minor nature were completed in 1962 or were in hand. The year saw the completion of the Chung Hom Kok service reservoir and pumping station on the south side of Hong Kong Island, and the high level fresh water service reservoir and salt water flushing reservoir and pump house at Fung Wong in Kowloon. Work continued on service reservoirs at Magazine Gap and Conduit Road on Hong Kong Island, at Lion Rock and Ngau Tau Kok high level in Kowloon, and at Yuen Long. To this list has now been added Tsz Wan Shan reservoir. A total of 24,000 feet of trunk mains up to 48 inches in diameter were laid, while