HONG KONG
BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
3
present levels by the early 1990s. Additional wharfs for conventional cargo handling are also being built and more mooring buoys are being provided for ocean going vessels to anchor in the harbour. A new terminal in Kowloon to handle passenger vessels travelling to China will also open in the summer of 1988.
Finally, more capacity to handle both passengers and freight is being provided at Kai Tak airport. The latest expansion of the passenger terminal will enable it to accommodate some 18 million passengers a year compared with about 12.7 million experienced in 1987. The freight terminal, operated by a private company, also has a capacity to handle 680 000 tonnes of cargo, compared with 611 700 tonnes handled in 1987. The ultimate capacity of the airport will, however, be determined by the limitations of its single runway, which is likely to reach saturation in the 1990s.
(2) Other Major Developments
Important as it is, the basic infrastructure accounts only for a part of the development now being carried out in Hong Kong. There is much more being undertaken by both the private and the public sectors, some of it very substantial. Many of the more impressive projects are in, or close to, the Central business district, and in Tsim Sha Tsui facing it across the harbour in Kowloon. This is the commercial heart of the territory which contains not only the headquarters of all the major banks and finance houses, but also most of the main hotels and shopping centres, as well as being the centre of government. It is in this area that new and, in many cases, yet more grandiose and prestigious developments are continuously being undertaken. Current examples are the new developments now underway on Queens- way in the old Victoria Barracks, including hotel, office and shopping facilities; and the new buildings for the Standard Chartered Bank and, particularly, the 74-storey tower being erected by the Bank of China on Garden Road. The new Exhibition Centre on the Wan Chai reclamation will also include hotel, office and residential developments.
Within the public sector, two new, very large hospitals, among the biggest in the world, are now being built in the new town of Tuen Mun and in the Eastern District of Hong Kong Island, to add to the nine large hospitals already in the territory. The number of hospital beds will increase by at least 50 per cent over the next decade. The fact that the average expectation of life in Hong Kong, which now stands at 74 years for men and 79 for women, is among the highest in the world is an indication that the standard of health care, including preventive health care, is good.
In the field of higher education, there are already two universities, two polytechnics and another post-secondary college in Hong Kong, all offering degree courses. A third university, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is now being established in the southeast of the New Territories, with its first students expected to be enrolled in 1991. Altogether, the number of degree places available in these institutions is expected to double over the next 10 years.
Considerable sums, totalling some $3 billion a year, are continuing to be spent on building the new towns, including the new generation new towns at Ma On Shan, Junk Bay and, later, Tin Shui Wai. Access to the new town at Junk Bay will be provided by a tunnel, now under construction and expected to be fully operational in 1990. Later, a Mass Transit Railway link may also be built to serve the new town.
A striking, new Cultural Centre is being constructed on the site of the old railway station in Kowloon. When opened in 1990, it will possess, among other facilities, a large 2 200-seat concert hall and a 1 800-seat theatre, to add to the substantial halls and stadia already established in the metropolitan area and in the larger new towns. The recently-established