226 | Infrastructure Development and Heritage Conservation
Commissioner for Heritage's Office
A Commissioner for Heritage's Office will be set up in the Development Bureau for coordinating the heritage conservation work and for the Government to liaise with the scheme's public participants. Work on setting up the office started in late 2007.
Greening
The bureau continues to implement greening measures to improve the living environment in Hong Kong and to draw up a greening programme for the whole of Hong Kong each year. About 63 million plants including trees, shrubs and annuals were planted in the past five years. The bureau provided about 11 million plants in 2007-08. It also continues organising different greening and horticultural activities to promote greater public awareness and support for greening. Some 80 greening programmes with community participation were held in 2007.
Greening Master Plans
In addition, the bureau is actively pursuing the development and implementation of Greening Master Plans (GMPs) for the territory. A GMP defines an overall greening framework for an area by identifying suitable locations for planting desirable species and building up greening themes. GMPs are developed in consultation with District Councils and the local community through an enhanced partnering approach. Implementation of the GMPs for Central and Tsim Sha Tsui were completed in March 2007. The GMPs for Sheung Wan/Wan Chai/Causeway Bay and Mong Kok/Yau Ma Tei were completed in December 2007. Implementation will start in September 2008 for completion by end-2009. The development of GMPs for the remaining urban areas has started and will be completed in early 2009. The development of GMPs for the New Territories is scheduled to start in mid-2009.
Drainage Services
Flood Prevention Programme
The Government is carrying out a massive $12.1 billion programme to prevent flooding in the New Territories. It is also spending $8.1 billion on improving drainage systems in the urban areas, and $5.9 billion on drainage tunnels in Hong Kong West, Tsuen Wan and Lai Chi Kok to better protect these areas from floods.
Improvements to about 73 kilometres of river channels have been completed in the northwestern and northern parts of the New Territories. The Yuen Long Bypass Floodway and Shenzhen River Regulation Project were included in the programme. Flooding in the area has been substantially reduced as a result of the improvements.
Works carried out on 1.8 kilometres of Ma Wat River in Kau Lung Hang, Tai Po North, are due for completion by end-2008. Works on improving another 30 kilometres of upstream rivers and storm water drains in Sha Tin, Tai Po, Fanling and Sheung Shui have also started and are scheduled for completion in 2011. Design work for another 10.3 kilometres of drainage channels in the northern New Territories, including the upstream portion of Ping Yuen, Sheung Yue and Ng Tung