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LAND AND HOUSING
Sha Tin new town is being developed within the Shing Mun River valley im- mediately to the north of Kowloon. The initial intake of residents into Lek Yuen San Tsuen, the first public housing estate in Sha Tin, began in mid-1975. This estate will be completed in 1976, providing homes for 23,000 people. Work has started on the adjoining Wo Che estate which, like Lek Yuen, is to be built on land reclaimed from the seabed and foreshore at Sha Tin. This estate will provide accommodation for a further 34,000 people by 1979. Other areas of bulk excavation and reclamation are being planned by public and private developers to accommodate 239,000 people. The development area of the new town covers 1740 hectares with a population capacity of 524,000 people.
Concurrently with the development of the three major new towns, plans for the market towns of Tai Po, Fanling, Shek Wu Hui, and Yuen Long are being formulated for their development with an ultimate population of 264,000. In the rural parts of the New Territories, developments of smaller communities related to public housing estates are planned for the islands of Cheung Chau and Peng Chau, at Tai O and Mui Wo on Lantau Island, and at Sham Tseng, Lau Fau Shan, Tan Kwai Tsuen and Sai Kung. It is estimated that up to 300,000 people in the rural New Territories will require some form of housing assistance within the long-term housing programme.
Private Building
The year saw a small but significant overall return of the customary momentum in the private building industry, helped by a lowering of interest rates, increased productivity, steadying of labour costs and lower prices for most materials.
There was a resurgence in private overseas investment-often in partnership with local interests-in a number of industrial, commercial and recreational schemes throughout the territory. A good deal of forward planning was undertaken to ensure that schemes, some of them large scale, will be able to proceed as and when the financial and economic climate permits.
In connection with the government's policy of encouraging financially viable private development schemes that are in the public interest, a Priorities Committee was set up in the Buildings Ordinance Office. By the end of the year 70 building proposals had been granted priority in the processing of plans submitted for approval under the Buildings Ordinance.
There were 658 new building proposals submitted for approval in 1975, compared with 718 in 1974. The total cost of new buildings completed during the year was $1,891 million, an increase of one per cent over the figure of $1,869 million for 1974.
Several major buildings were completed during the year, including the 42-storey World Trade Centre, facing the harbour at Causeway Bay. It is one of the few such centres in the world to be built without any government financial assistance.
Work has proceeded rapidly on the impressive oceanarium project at Brick Hill, on the south side of Hong Kong Island. When completed in 1976, it will provide opportunities comparable to any in the world for the study and enjoyment of marine
life.