REVIEW
15
therefore been invited for the lease of the area in one or two lots. This means a development project equal in scale to anything else in the world and an investment in buildings of the order of some $200 million. A main feature of the scheme is the segregation of traffic and pedestrians and the developers will have to provide for this on the lines of a podium structure consisting of an open pedes- trian deck about 18 feet above the ground, a mezzanine and a ground floor. Government itself will pay $12 million towards the cost of this podium construction and will maintain and administer it as a public thoroughfare and a two-storey car park for 2,400 cars. Then a new traffic link across our harbour has long been canvassed. In 1956 Government was expertly advised against a bridge and announced at the same time that while a tunnel might be feasible it did not justify subsidy by the taxpayer. There the matter rested until recently a development company put up proposals for a tunnel which are now the subject of negotiation.
If traffic congestion and spectacular schemes for its relief denote the modern society then so does television. In this respect Hong Kong has been ahead of the trend. The first television station in any British colony was opened here in 1957. This provides a wired service, now on two channels. In November a new Television Ordin- ance made provision for the licensing of a wireless television station as well. This station will also be required to broadcast two pro- grammes, one in English and one in Chinese. The ordinance has been so framed as to ensure that the company which eventually obtains the licence for this new station will be British owned and Hong Kong based. Nevertheless it is already clear, as in the case of the central re-development scheme, that these projects of ours excite great interest throughout the world.
This is as we would like it. We need the understanding and sympathy of the world for our massive problems and we welcome any appreciation of the efforts we are making to solve them. But we want people to see us as more than just a piece of social engineer- ing. Hong Kong is a good deal more than that. However many times the word 'problem' has been mentioned in this review and throughout this volume we do not think of ourselves exclusively as a problem and frankly we do not look like a problem. We look like a community with a very great deal to do in a hurry.
URBAN COUNCIL PUBLIC LIBRARIES