LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
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To ensure proper co-ordination of the major task of planning and constructing the new towns, the New Territories Development Department was established in 1973. The department is constituted on a multi-disciplinary basis and includes professional officers with expertise in civil engineering, town planning, architecture and landscaping. The department works closely with the Housing Department in implementing the public housing programme and with the City and New Territories Administration in fostering the growth of new well-balanced communities.
A major contribution is also being made by the private sector in the provision of consulting services to the new town development offices and in a range of privately financed housing developments and facilities.
Tsuen Wan
The new town development plan covers an area of 2970 hectares and the present population is 700 000. When all major development is completed in the early 1990s, the new town will be home to about 790 000 people and offer job opportunities to 280 000 workers in the industrial sector.
Reclamation is now in progress in Kwai Chung to provide for extensions to the container port, now with the third largest throughput in the world, plus land for container related activities, and in Tsuen Wan Bay to provide land for open space and recreational facilities and government, residential and industrial uses. On this reclamation, adjacent to the Tsuen Wan Town Hall, a new ferry pier has been opened and behind this the territory's largest transport complex is now completed.
Cheung Ching, the first of six large public housing estates on Tsing Yi Island, has been completed. The first four phases of Cheung Hong Estate have also been completed, and the remaining fifth phase should be ready in early 1986. In the southern half of the island, large areas of land produced by earthworks and reclamation are intended for specialist and land intensive industries. The Tsing Yi North Bridge is under construction and is expected to be completed by mid-1987. This will greatly improve access to and from the island and will promote rapid development in the north and in the town centre.
The greater proportion of the new town's population now lives in public housing. There is also considerable private sector activity. For example, 20 000 people are now housed above the Tsuen Wan and Kwai Fong Mass Transit Railway Stations and at both ends of the Tsuen Wan Bay reclamation substantial industrial areas have been re-zoned for comprehensive residential development. 儿
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Transport continues to be a matter of prime interest in the new town. The Tsuen Wan Bypass, across the Tsuen Wan Bay reclamation, was opened in November. Projects about to start include the Route 5 highway to Sha Tin and the Texaco Road improvement and connection to the Tsing Yi North Bridge.
An extensive programme to provide additional park and recreational facilities is under- way to meet the needs of an expanding population. More swimming pools, games halls and squash courts are planned, together with the reconstruction of Yeung Uk Road Sportsground as a modern stadium.
About 1 400 hectares of serviced, developed land already exist within the new town and another 500 hectares will be made available in the future. About 30 per cent of this will be used for public housing and community facilities and a further 20 per cent set aside for open space and recreational facilities. Consideration is also being given to the comprehensive development of Sham Tseng, farther along the coast, for a planned population of up to 100 000 people.