PORT WORKS OFFICE.
CHIEF ENGINEER H. W. FORSYTH, B.Eng., A.M.N.Z.Inst.E., A.M.I.C.E.
134. The activities of this branch of the Department fall roughly under three main heads—the maintenance of piers, sea defences and airport; new construction on reclamations and the airport; and the assessment and planning of new Port Works projects.
MAINTENANCE.
135. Maintenance of the Colony's public piers and those operated by the Hong Kong and Yaumati Ferry Co. Ltd. was largely a matter of attention to their fender systems. The restoration of deteriorated reinforced concrete sub-structures by guniting continued and the neglect of four years of Japanese Occupation has now been largely remedied.
136. Sea defences called for little attention except in the case of the main East and West breakwater to the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter. The replacement of some 500 square feet of pitching made good all damage to the profile.
137. On the airport at Kai Tak, the runway surfaces were strengthened to cope with the increasing traffic and heavier loads of the new types of commercial planes. Reference to this work follows later.
138. Dredging: The two Priestman cub. yard grab dredgers gave excellent service in the removal of 220,000 cub. yards of silt brought down by the nullahs during the wet season and deposited along seawalls and in the harbours of refuge. Dredged material was dumped after an average 1¼ mile tow, adjacent to the city's sanitary refuse dump in Kuntong Bay on the N.E. side of the harbour. Towards the end of the year a floating reclamation pumping set arrived in the Colony for reassembly, to work in conjunction with the grab dredgers. Designed to empty a 200-ton hopper barge in one hour, the barge is equipped with a 12" gravel pump and 12" diluting pump. Initially, the equipment will be used to cover up and raise the 16-acre city refuse dump to a level of +14′ C.D.
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