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Public Works and Utilities
THE programme of Public Works, Hong Kong's largest single financial commitment, ranges from the formation and reclamation of land, the building of resettlement estates, schools and hospitals to the construction of roads, sewers, piers and reservoirs. Capital expenditure for the financial year 1969-70 is estimated at $309 million or about 15 per cent of the annual estimates. Of this sum $89 million is to be spent on resettlement and government low-cost housing, $49 million on roads, and $38 million on water supplies.
WATER SUPPLIES
Whilst the year 1968 could be regarded as a year of promise for the Waterworks, 1969 was a year of fulfilment. On January 20, 1969, His Excellency the Governor inaugurated the $520 million Plover Cove water supply scheme marking the culmination of 10 years work. On January,1, 37,000 million gallons of water was held in store, more than double the amount stored in January 1968. Of this total 28,291 million gallons were stored in Plover Cove. Although the rainfall during the year totalled only 74.63 inches com- pared with an average of 85.39 inches, this was sufficient to replenish the stocks of water in every reservoir and the Plover Cove reservoir overflowed for the first time on the morning of August 11. This brought the total storage in the Colony up to the maximum potential of 54,000 million gallons.
Over the period October 1968 to June 1969 the Chinese Authori- ties supplied 15,004 million gallons of raw water by way of their Sham Chun reservoir and the supply was resumed on October 1, 1969 in accordance with the current agreement with the Peoples Council of Kwangtung Province.
A full 24-hour supply was maintained throughout the year and the supply area was extended to villages near the township of Tai Po and a number of other isolated area including some in Hong
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