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Communications and Transport
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HONG KONG's new $43-million General Post Office was opened in August while throughout the year work went into full swing on the construction of the $5,800- million mass transit railway. Tunnelling was started at the end of 1975 and the modified initial system-15.6 kilometres long-is due to be completed in 1980. It will be Southeast Asia's first underground railway and it is estimated that it will carry a million passengers a day, which will make it one of the most heavily used systems in the world.
Post Office
The new General Post Office is on the waterfront on Hong Kong Island. It was officially opened by the Governor, who said that Hong Kong would only be able to maintain its position as a leading centre of trade and finance if it continued to keep pace with the technology of modern communications.
The five-storey building is equipped with highly sophisticated mechanised systems --including a 1,000-foot chain conveyor system for mailbags, a letter transporting system which can convey letters from the sorting office at the rate of 45,000 an hour, and a stamp cancelling machine which is able to segregate and stamp 25,000 letters an hour. The loading and unloading of mail launches berthed alongside the pier adjoining the building is also done automatically. Escalators lead to and from the main public office on the first floor, where there are also 12,400 private post office boxes. In addition to the mail handling facilities, the building accommodates the head- quarters of the Post Office.
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The old General Post Office-built 65 years ago in the Victorian style —was demolished towards the end of the year to make way for work on the mass transit railway.
In November, piling was begun on the new $43-million international mail centre at the new railway terminus in Hung Hom. Three other new post offices were also opened during 1976, one of them replacing an office which closed on expiry of its lease. There were 72 post offices at the end of the year, including a mobile post office which serves remote parts of the New Territories.
Postal Services
An estimated 287 million letters, registered articles and parcels were handled during the year 5.1 per cent more than in 1975. Mail posted for delivery within Hong Kong increased but there was a decline in surface parcel traffic to other countries.