194
LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
installations will soon increase significantly from the present level of 20 per cent. Overall, sales of LPG are increasing by approximately six per cent per annum, mainly in the form of piped gas to meet new housing demands but also partly to replace kerosene in existing markets.
HKCG supplies Towngas to Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and many towns in the New Territories. Supply is available throughout the urban areas - including Aberdeen, Repulse Bay and Stanley on Hong Kong Island, Ap Lei Chau, Sha Tin and the industrial towns of Kwun Tong, Yau Tong, Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan and neighbouring Tsing Yi Island.
Towngas production is centred on Ma Tau Kok in Kowloon. The capacity of the Ma Tau Kok plant was increased during the year to 2 973 377 cubic metres per day by the addition of two naptha reforming units, making 12 in all. To meet peak demand, there are five gasholders with a total capacity of 113 282 cubic metres.
Hong Kong Island is supplied with Towngas by four submarine gas mains across the harbour and Tsing Yi is supplied by one gas main along-the Tsing Yi Bridge. The New Territories region north of Kowloon is at present supplied by a pipeline through the second Lion Rock Tunnel. A new 750 mm diameter pipeline through the old Beacon Hill Railway Tunnel is nearly completed.
To ensure that the rising demand for piped gas can continue to be met, a site in Tai Po in the New Territories was granted to HKCG in September for the construction of a second gas production plant. The plant is scheduled to come into operation by October 1986 and will enable the supply of Towngas to be progressively extended, via a planned 58-kilometre transmission pipeline, to all major towns in the New Territories.
Towngas is distributed at a heat value of 17.27 MJ/m3 and a specific gravity of approximately 0.56. Gas is sold on the basis of a megajoule. Towngas sales are increasing at a rate of more than 20 per cent per annum due mainly to increased sales to new and existing housing estates. Sales in 1984 amounted to 6.91 million gigajoules compared with 5.92 million in 1983. Consumption and distribution statistics are at Appendix 30.
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