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PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
training walls, 2,000 feet of new roads, three major culverts and a footbridge spanning the river channel were built; 4,000 feet of trunk sewer were laid. Work continues on the remaining site formation, river walls, roads and drains.
Preparatory work for development at the new town of Sha Tin is in progress. The first stage of the project involves the reclamation of about 32 acres with associated road works for Government and private housing for some 30,000 people together with the forma- tion of another 10 acres for industrial use.
QUARRYING
It is Government's present policy to concentrate stone produc- tion by private enterprise in large contract quarries. There are now four private contract quarries operating with a fifth coming into operation. There are also 15 private quarries operating under Crown land permits. It is expected that most of the permit quarries will cease operating before the end of 1971.
Government quarries are operated at Diamond Hill in Kowloon and at Mount Butler on Hong Kong Island to provide aggregate and road making material for government projects, and also to ensure a supply of stone should commercial supplies become difficult or expensive. Dust suppression equipment was brought into success- ful operation at Mount Butler Quarry in August 1969, and similar equipment is being ordered for Diamond Hill quarry. These plants will enable the effectiveness of dust suppression equipment to be demonstrated to private quarry operators with the aim of reducing dust nuisance and the associated incidence of silicosis to reasonable levels.
PUBLIC UTILITIES
China Light and Power Co Ltd supplies electricity to Kowloon and the New Territories, including Lantau and a number of outlying inlands. In 1969 the peak load was 617 MW, which was 15 per cent more than in 1968, and 108 per cent more than in 1964.
Generation of electricity is carried out partly by China Light, and partly by Peninsula Electric Power Co Ltd, an enterprise owned and financed by Esso and China Light. The generating