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to the Government and seven new building contracts, worth $88 million, were awarded to shipbuilders in Hong Kong and overseas.
Marine Facilities
The Civil Engineering Department is responsible for the planning, design and construction of public marine facilities including piers, beacons, breakwaters, seawalls, navigation channels and anchorage areas. In 2002, the department completed the reconstruction of the public piers at Tung Lung Chau and Pak Sha Wan, and the design of a sheltered boat anchorage at Tai O. The department continued with the reconstruction of the Tai Lam Chung, Hei Ling Chau and Kadoorie Piers and started the reconstruction of Peng Chau, Cheung Chau, Kat O and Wu Kai Sha Public Piers. The department is also responsible for the maintenance of public marine facilities. It operates a maintenance strategy that is aimed at extending the life of reinforced concrete piers by incorporating a new specification for durable concrete, the use of concrete coating as a barrier against chloride and preventing corrosion of reinforcement bars by installing a new protection system.
In addition, the department also carries out routine inspections and repairs of other public marine structures including seawalls, breakwaters and beacons. It provides maintenance dredging services in anchorage areas, typhoon shelters, rivers and navigation channels. In 2002, the department maintained 117 kilometres of seawalls, 298 piers and 18 000 hectares of seabed.
For environmental friendliness at public piers, the department has advocated the use of rubber or recycled plastic as alternative materials for the fender system, to replace the traditional hardwood timber fenders. Replacement work has begun at some public piers.
Civil Aviation
Hong Kong is a major international and regional aviation centre. The Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) is one of the busiest airports in the world. At the end of 2002, there were 73 scheduled airlines serving Hong Kong. These airlines together operated about 3 900 scheduled flights weekly between Hong Kong and some 140 cities world-wide. In addition, an average of about 30 non-scheduled flights were operated to and from Hong Kong each week.
Air Traffic in 2002
After a year of decline, both passenger and cargo throughput at the HKIA registered a significant rebound in 2002. A total of 33.45 million passengers (including 0.86 million in transit) passed through the airport, representing an increase of 3.8 per cent from 2001. The growth in air cargo handled at the HKIA was even stronger, surging by 19.5 per cent to 2.48 million tonnes in 2002. The corresponding value also increased by 10.4 per cent to $909.8 billion. The substantial increase in air cargo was attributed mainly to the growth in exports to the United States and other Asian cities.