LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
At the end of December 1994, over 55 000 qualified electrical workers and 7 800 qualified contractors had been registered.
To further enhance public safety, the government is planning to introduce statutory controls over electrical products and is updating the safety legislation for the power supply industry.
As a first step, legislation was introduced for statutory control over plugs and adaptors in late 1994. Comprehensive legislation on electrical product safety will be enacted in late 1995 to provide control over all household electrical products. The introduction of the new Electricity Supply Regulations is scheduled for 1996.
In May 1990, the government decided that the electricity supply voltage in Hong Kong should be upgraded from 200 volts single phase or 346 volts three phase, to 220 volts single phase or 380 volts three phase. A Supply Voltage Advisory Committee was appointed in February 1991 to advise on the implementation of voltage upgrading in the territory. The voltage upgrading is being carried out in two phases. Phase I conversion, covering existing installations inside government buildings, started in August 1990 and was completed in November 1992. Phase II conversion, covering existing installations in buildings managed by the Housing Authority and those of the private sector, commenced in January 1993 and will take about four years to complete.
Electricity statistics and sales figures are at Appendix 40.
Gas
Gas is widely used throughout the territory for domestic, commercial and industrial purposes. Two main types of fuel gas are available: Towngas, distributed by the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (HKCG); and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), supplied by major oil companies based in Hong Kong, namely Shell, Mobil, Esso, Caltex, Concord Oil and China Resources. Towngas is mainly supplied as a manufactured gas, but for some customers, substitute natural gas (SNG) is supplied under the Towngas trademark. The constituents of LPG are butane and propane, mixed in approximate proportions of 70 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively.
The total number of gas customers is about 1.935 million. In 1994, Towngas accounted for 69 per cent of the total fuel gas sold in energy terms, and LPG for 31 per cent.
HKCG manufactures Towngas at two plants, at Ma Tau Kok and the Tai Po Industrial Estate. Both use naphtha as a feedstock. They currently have output capacities of 2.2 million and 8.4 million cubic metres per day, respectively.
Towngas is supplied through an integrated distribution system to about 1 060 000 customers for cooking and water-heating purposes. The mains network extends throughout the territory's urban areas. The new towns in the New Territories are supplied via an 80-kilometre high-pressure pipeline, of 600-millimetre diameter, emanating from the Tai Po gas production plant. An additional 10 kilometres of high-pressure pipeline, currently under construction, will provide supplies to the new development areas in Tin Shui Wai and to Tuen Mun. A further 30 kilometres of high-pressure pipeline are presently under construction to supply Towngas to the new airport at Chek Lap Kok and to Tung Chung and other housing developments on Lantau Island.
Natural gas will be available in the territory towards the end of 1995 and will be used exclusively for power generation at the Black Point and Castle Peak power stations. The gas
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