Planning
4.69. The study of and comment on town planning layouts continued, with particular emphasis on the satellite towns at Sha Tin and Castle Peak. Schemes for the Tsuen Wan By-pass, the new Tsuen Wan Castle Peak motorway and the improvement of the existing carriageway between Castle Peak and Ping Shan were examined. The planning of the road network connected with the landfalls of the cross harbour tunnel advanced from the planning to the design stage.
Design
4.70. Emphasis was on the road network associated with the Cross Harbour Tunnel project. The design of a clover-leaf type of intersection was completed for the Kowloon interchange whilst on the Hong Kong side the design of a number of flyovers integrated with the existing road network was almost completed. A number of major intersections were examined in the light of the anticipated effects of the tunnel.
4.71. Other designs completed during the year included those for minor improvements at Chai Wan Road; two major intersections along the Coastal Road to Kwai Chung/Tsuen Wan; the Sau Mau Ping, Kennedy Town and Wan Chai bus termini; the widening of Canton Road and access to the double decked vehicular ferry system at Jubilee Street and Jordan Road.
Staff
STAFF, TRAINING AND WELFARE
4.72. The serious shortage of professional and assistant professional staff continued throughout the year. Although strenuous efforts were made to recruit Engineers and Assistant Engineers locally, the supply did not meet the demand and five Engineers were therefore appointed on expatriate terms. Twelve local officers succeeded in becoming full Engineers on promotion from the assistant professional grade. There were also difficulties in recruiting experienced draughtsmen and works supervisory staff but these deficiencies should be remedied in the long term by the formation of the Technical Training Unit described below.
Training
4.73. The need for and advantages of, organized training programmes for civil engineering support staff have long been recognized. Consequently it was decided to set up a Technical Training Unit in the Civil Engineering Office with the object of providing a high standard of instruction for civil engineering technicians.
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