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HOUSING AND LAND
Private Building During 1980, property developers did not appear to be unduly worried by the high interest rates in the first quarter of the year and the extension of rent control to almost all tenancies in post-war premises. New building proposals submitted during the year numbered 949, compared with 988 in 1979. The total number of Occupation Permits for new buildings issued in the same period was 544, providing a total floor area 1,750,683 square metres for commercial or industrial uses and 858,880 square metres for residential purposes. The total construction cost, excluding the cost of land, amounted to $4,674 million.
Private building continued to be dominated by largescale developments such as the 64-storey Hopewell Centre, the Sun Hung Kai Centre, the Great Eagle Centre and the China Resources Building. When completed, these will dramatically change the appearance of the Wan Chai District. In the Central District of Hong Kong Island redevelopment continued with the completion of Phase I of the Landmark Development (formerly Gloucester Building). Many well-known buildings, including Marina House, the Bank of East Asia Building, Edinburgh House, Central House, the P. & O). Building and Regent House were demolished to make way for the construction of new office towers. In Kowloon, the New World Centre was in its final phase of development and the growing number of hotels and shopping complexes along the Tsim Sha Tsui waterfront to the east, and Harbour City to the west, were at advanced stages of construction. In the New Territories, private development in the Sha Tin new town was gaining momentum with a large number of industrial and residential projects under way; work continued on the Jubilee Sports Centre, the most up-to-date and largest of its kind in the territory; site formation and reclamation works were in progress on the Ho Chung Marina project overlooking Hebe Haven near Sai Kung; and Kwai Chung and Tsuen Wan continued to develop rapidly as integrated industrial, commercial and residential districts of the Tsuen Wan new town.
Intense building activities in the private sector, coupled with the government's land sale programme, kept up the heavy demands on the Geotechnical Control Branch of the Build- ings Ordinance Office. The temporary restriction on new development proposals in specified areas of the Mid-levels on Hong Kong Island continued in effect throughout the year. Meanwhile, data was collected in the extensively instrumented areas to assist in a detailed study.
During the year the Building Authority achieved little improvement in control over unauthorised structures. Altogether, 1,405 buildings were kept under surveillance, resulting in the serving of 544 Statutory Notices requiring remedial works to be effected by the
owners.
The Dangerous Building Division of the Buildings Ordinance Office carried out its principal function of dealing will dangerous and potentially dangerous buildings under the Buildings Ordinance, while the Works Division continued its primary role of repairing or demolishing dangerous buildings in the private sector in cases of default by the owners or on an emergency basis. The Works Division also increased its activities in obtaining com- pliance with orders served by the Building Authority in respect of unauthorised structures. The Buildings Ordinance Office's Mass Transit Division continued to examine Mass Transit Railway proposals and to maintain its surveillance on operations involving dewatering, tunnelling, ground anchors and blasting in order to safeguard properties adjoining the railway alignment. The division is also responsible for administering the Buildings Ordinance in respect of property developed by the Mass Transit Railway Corporation. Progress achieved in this area during the year included the completion of