CONSTRUCTION
188. Steady progress was maintained in the contract let in the previous year for the formation of Ngau Chai Ridge into a housing estate of 20 acres in extent and the utilization of surplus earth and rock to provide fill for an additional 10 acres of land in the westerly sector of the Kwun Tong reclamation scheme.
189. A contract was let in December for the formation of a site for a new military hospital at King's Park, Kowloon in exchange for the existing hospital site in Bowen Road. Good progress was made on the earth works, over a quarter million cubic yards of earth being excavated in the first four months. Some of this material was dumped on the site in low-lying areas and behind retaining walls and the remainder consigned to coastal reclamations at Kwun Tong and Hung Hom.
190. Prior to the invitation of tenders for this work 59 shafts to an aggregate depth of 2,809 feet were manually excavated to prove the proposed formation levels and to determine the rock content of the hill. The very competitive tenders which were subsequently received amply justified the cost of these extensive investigations.
191. A start was made on the construction of a reinforced concrete portal over the Kowloon-Canton Railway. This portal, which is being made wide enough for two tracks, will bridge the railway for a length of 960 feet and is intended to support the extension of Nairn Road to Gascoigne Road.
192. The area allotted to the new military hospital absorbed the old 25 yards Police pistol range but after a prolonged search a new site was located in the Smugglers' Ridge area, New Territories suitable for a 200 yard range. Although tenders for the construction of the new range were not invited until March, no delay was experienced in the formation of the hospital site as the Police Force kindly agreed to do without their pistol range pending construction of its replacement.
PLANNING AND SITE INVESTIGATIONS
193. At the Waterloo Road Hill, manual excavation of shafts as in the case of King's Park, and also some percussion boring took place. The results, confirming the tentative layout plans and the proposed formation levels, facilitated the issue of a draft report.
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