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CHAPTER 13 LAND, PUBLIC WORKS
AND UTILITIES
202
EFFICIENT delivery of a wide range of infrastructure is essential to meeting Hong Kong's immediate and long-term needs. In 1997-98, public works projects valued at some $21.1 billion were under management. In the past decade, expenditure on the Public Works Programme (PWP) has grown at an average rate of 6 per cent per annum in real terms.
Good progress has been made in the implementation of the PWP. All 10 projects in the massive Airport Core Programme (ACP) have been completed and the last two the new airport at Chek Lap Kok and the Airport Railway opened in July. Works for the Hei Ling Chau typhoon shelter were also completed in 1998.
To enhance Hong Kong's position as a regional transport hub and further improve the quality of life for the general public, more than $235 billion will be spent over the next five years on major rail, road, land and port projects. Work on Container Terminal 9 at Tsing Yi is scheduled to start in 1999 and the first berth to be ready for operation in late 2001. With planning and design work substantially completed, Container Terminals 10 and 11 at North-East Lantau will proceed rapidly to construction when demand arises.
Various measures have been adopted to ensure the smooth delivery of the public works projects. A dedicated team was set up in the Works Bureau in 1998 to assess the cumulative effect of the housing development programme on infrastructure capacity, to co-ordinate the planning for new infrastructure projects and to monitor their progress.
A prioritisation exercise was introduced for new public works projects which require land resumption so as to ensure that resources are available to resume land for the construction of significant projects. The planning lead-time for reclamation projects has been cut by revising planning procedures to allow the publication of gazette notices in parallel under the Foreshore and Seabed (Reclamations) Ordinance and the Town Planning Ordinance.
Various initiatives continue to be implemented to reduce the risk of landslides. Slope maintenance teams in various departments have been enhanced and preparatory work for slope upgrading has begun under a new 10-year Landslip Preventive Measures (LPM) Programme to be launched in 2000 so as to rectify government man-made slopes systematically. Advisory services were provided to private owners to help them maintain their own slopes, and legislative amendments are being made to enhance slope safety associated with private developments. A database of maintenance responsibility for each slope has been prepared and a new slope catalogue made available on the internet for public access.