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PORT WORKS OFFICE.
103. The sea walls suffered little damage and were not appreciably affected by lack of maintenance during the Japanese Occupation. Most of the piers were in a very poor condition, large areas of timber decking having been looted, and all piers showed signs of deterioration through lack of maintenance. Nearly all the pre-war plant and equipment was lost.
The Japanese did not carry out any dredging with the result that considerable silting had occurred alongside sea-walls and at sewer and stormwater outfalls. However, the main channel in the harbour had actually scoured to a greater depth.
104. Only temporary repairs were carried out under the military administration, apart from the general clearing away of debris and pre-war defence works such as barbed wire entanglements. The shortage of materials precluded the putting in hand of permanent repairs.
105. During the year urgent repair work to arrest further deterioration of structures was carried out in the first instance, and thereafter as staff and materials became available the actual work of rehabilitation was undertaken.
Public Works Recurrent,
106. Maintenance of Sea Walls and Piers.-General Maintenance on all sea walls and piers in the Colony was carried out.
107. Maintenance of Vehicle Ferry Piers. Both Jubilee Street and Jordan Road piers were maintained in a fair state of repair, but as permanent rehabilitation repairs could not be carried out owing to shortage of materials, this maintenance work was necessarily confined to keeping the temporary repair work in as satisfactory a state as possible.
108. Maintenance of Harbour Plant and Equipment.-Expenditure incurred was small as there was little plant and equipment to maintain.
109. Dredging. Only the most urgent work could be undertaken with the plant it was possible to hire.
Foreshore Dumps.-Dumps were maintained at North Point, Kennedy Town, Cheung Sha Wan and Hung Hom. The dump at Kennedy Town was closed as from 1st November pending further extension of the sea wall. The areas reclaimed at North Point and Cheung Sha Wan were 2.0 and 0.3 acres respectively.
Maintenance of Kai Tak Aerodrome.-The aerodrome was maintained in a satisfactory condition.
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