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雪味药
Public Works and Utilities
H
ONE of the government's largest financial commitments is expenditure on public works. This covers the formation and reclamation of land, port and airport works, the provision of roads and their associated sewers, bridges and tunnels, the supply and distribution of water, and the construction of public buildings.
For the 1979--80 financial year, approved expenditure on capital works amounted to $2,599 million, approximately 21 per cent of the government's total expenditure. Of this sum, $440 million is being spent on roads, $167 million on water supplies and $96 million on public housing constructed by the Public Works Department, in addition to that being spent by the Housing Authority.
To help cool off the economy, the government in its 1979-80 Budget imposed cash limits on capital expenditure on public works. The objective was to reduce the rate of growth in expenditure in the Public Works Programme. However, it became evident during the year that because of the ever-increasing cost of construction and the additional load imposed by unexpected works, such as those in connection with Vietnamese refugee camps, either the planned Public Works Programme could not be implemented or that some flexibility in the expenditure ceiling would have to be tolerated.
Geotechnical Control
A geotechnical manual for slopes was completed by the government's Geotechnical Con- trol Office and published in draft form in 1979. This publication sets out the practices and standards that should be used for construction on slopes in Hong Kong.
An aerial photography interpretation unit was formed to apply photogrammetric tech- niques for locating areas where slope stability problems are likely to occur. Checks were made on the design of new slopes associated with the construction of all major government engineering and building projects. The detailed investigation of the stability of existing slopes throughout Hong Kong continued and preventive works on 22 fill slopes in the urban areas were satisfactorily completed. In late 1979, contracts were let for a further programme of fill slope preventive works.
Quarrying
Activity in the quarrying industry remained at a high level during 1979. A total of 5,695,984 cubic metres of aggregates were produced by the two government and seven contract quarries. In addition, the quarries produced bitumen-coated material and ready-mixed concrete for the construction industry. Owing to a steadying in the level of demand in 1979, coupled with the production of aggregates from development sites, the quarries were able to meet orders for aggregates without difficulty. As a result, the opportunity was taken to