LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
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for public housing and community facilities, and a further 10 per cent set aside for open space and recreational facilities. Investigations have commenced on the comprehensive development of the Sham Tseng area, with a planned population of up to 60 000.
Sha Tin
Sha Tin Valley has a total area of some 1 700 hectares which includes 640 hectares of reclamation. The development of Ma On Shan as an extension of the new town will add another 419 hectares, of which 160 hectares will be reclaimed land. Land formation in the valley continued and by year-end was virtually complete, while engineering works for reclamation and land formation began at Ma On Shan.
Since 1974 the population of Sha Tin has grown from 25 000 to nearly 250 000. The ultimate population of 833 000 will be reached by the mid-1990s. To maintain a balanced social mix, about 60 per cent of the population will be housed in over 20 public housing estates (including Home Ownership and Private Sector Participation Schemes) with the remainder in private development schemes or in one of the 40 existing villages.
Building works in the town are approximately 30 per cent complete and a full range of job opportunities and social, recreational, educational and community facilities is being provided to keep pace with this development. A comprehensive road, rail, cycle and footpath network is being laid down to link these functions of the new town. Stage I of the sewage treatment works is complete and Stage II was under construction during the year.
One of the features of Sha Tin is its recreational and social facilities. Added to the Sha Tin Racecourse and the Jubilee Sports Centre will be an international rowing course on the Shing Mun River, a football stadium, a swimming pool complex, and squash and tennis courts. All these will be linked by a proposed riverside promenade and culminate in a 7.5-hectare town park which was being constructed during the year. The town park will in turn link into the town centre, which is also well under way, with its cultural complex, commercial centre, hotels and offices.
Other important regional facilities include the Prince of Wales Hospital, completed during the year, providing some 1 400 beds, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Plans for other hospitals and a technical institute are being considered.
Tuen Mun
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Although detailed planning for Tuen Mun's development began only in the mid-1960s, it already houses some 210 000 people. This rapid pace of development will continue over the next decade so that by the early 1990s the total population will number more than 500 000. The main high-density 'core' of the new town is being developed on land reclaimed from Castle Peak Bay and on the adjacent valley floor. Elsewhere, sites are being formed on hillsides to accommodate mainly medium and low-density residential developments. At the end of 1983, almost 50 per cent of all new development areas had been formed and serviced. In contrast, those areas of great landscape value which give Tuen Mun its impressive natural setting are being preserved where appropriate.
Like other new towns, Tuen Mun has been planned to meet the demand for a wide range of housing types and flat sizes. Substantial areas within the heart of the town have been set aside for high-density public and private housing. Public housing development is already well advanced: by the end of 1983, the new town contained seven public housing estates accommodating more than 150 000 people. In parallel, the provision of both high and low-density private housing was proceeding well.