LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
cultural core of the new town. Other necessary retail and commercial facilities will be distributed in the district centres serving Tung Chung and Tai Ho, and local centres within housing areas. Land will be reserved at Siu Ho Wan for airport-related industrial uses. A number of major utilities, including a water treatment works, a sewage treatment works, a railway depot and a refuse transfer station, will also be located at Siu Ho Wan.
There will be four phases of development for the new town between now and 2011. The first phase, which is earmarked as one of the Airport Core Programme projects, will be completed by 1997 to coincide with the opening of the new airport and will accommodate about 20 000 residents at Tung Chung. The land formation for this phase was completed in mid-1994, and construction of roads and drains and a public housing estate is in progress.
Construction of the first stage of the North Lantau sewage collection, treatment and disposal system is underway. Work is expected to be completed in late 1996.
Elsewhere in the Islands District, improvements to the living environment and facilities for residents and visitors continued during 1994.
In Cheung Chau, site formation work for the rural public housing estate and Home Ownership Scheme in Sin Yan Tseng is in progress. The rural public housing development will provide about 400 housing units for some 1 300 residents upon completion in 1998.
Building works were underway for the first rural public housing estate on Peng Chau. They are expected to be completed in October 1995. A sewage treatment plant will also be completed at the same time.
In Mui Wo, the construction of a fireboat berthing point was completed. The upgrading of the existing sewage treatment works is scheduled to commence in late 1995.
Rural Planning and Improvement Strategy
The Rural Planning and Improvement Strategy (RPIS) aims to improve the quality of life in the rural areas of the New Territories. It is implemented at both strategic and district levels. At the strategic level, land-use policies are continuously reviewed to control incompa- tible developments and provide a more sustainable and cost-effective basis for public and private investments. In this regard, a number of reviews and studies have been, or are being, undertaken. They include studies on open storage and port back-up land requirements, and the review of the rural improvement concept.
At the district level, improvement projects are undertaken under the rural development programmes. These projects include village improvement and expansion works; provision of sewers and sewage treatment plants; improvement, reconstruction and expansion of village access roads; provision of local recreational facilities in village areas; works related to land drainage, river training and flood prevention schemes; and the provision and improvement of communal irrigation, field drainage and farm access in selected agricultural areas. These rural improvement projects are initiated, implemented and monitored by various district working groups.
Fresh impetus was given to the RPIS during the year. Following interdepartmental discussions and committee work, the responsibilities for the estimated $5 billion commitment to rural improvements were re-organised with the objective of achieving better physical progress suited to local requirements.
In November, the City and New Territories Administration (which was renamed the Home Affairs Department in December), by virtue of its close contacts with rural residents
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