Chapter 12
Land, Public Works and Utilities
Hong Kong has a first-class infrastructure to fit its world-class status and it continues to make timely investments in major projects to boost commerce and industry and provide facilities for its expanding population.
The Government remains committed to building new infrastructure and improving existing facilities to meet the needs of economic development. It will spend about $27.6 billion on capital works projects in 2005-06. The projects will also provide employment opportunities for the construction industry.
Work on major infrastructure projects was on schedule in 2005. The supporting infrastructure for the Hong Kong Disneyland at Penny's Bay was completed in June and, by the end of the year, the Deep Bay Link and the Hong Kong section of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor a new trunk road connection with Shenzhen - was near completion. Construction of Route 8 and the third phase of the Central Reclamation were in full swing.
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In October, the Government announced the re-activation of the plan to rebuild the Central Government Offices and the Legislative Council Building on the Tamar site. The project, which was shelved following the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 in light of the Government's financial position, was rescheduled to start in 2007. To enhance cross-boundary transport links, the governments of Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macao continued to work on feasibility studies for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
The Government is committed to the highest standards of slope safety. The Ten- Year Extended Landslip Preventive Measures Programme, which started in 2000 and will involve a total capital expenditure of $9 billion by 2010, progressed well during the year. Some 1 300 substandard government slopes have been upgraded and landscaped and over 1 500 private slopes safety-screened since 2000.
Construction site safety continued to improve. The accident rate for public works contracts in 2005 was 16 accidents per 1 000 workers, a decrease of 19 per cent over
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