GENERAL
INTRODUCTION
1.01. The Colony of Hong Kong has an area of approximately 400 square miles and a population of about 4,000,000. The bulk of this population is concentrated in a very intensively developed area of some nine square miles covering the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon from Lei Yue Mun in the east to Lai Chi Kok in the west. The new town of Tsuen Wan in the New Territories, a few miles to the north-west of Lai Chi Kok, has developed rapidly and according to the preliminary reports of the 1971 Census now has a population of 268,011. The extent of these urban concentrations is shown on the frontispiece map.
1.02. The year 1970-71 saw the continuation of activity in the building industry resulting in the highest annual investment in private building development since 1967. There has been a steady demand for building land and hotel building continues to be considered an attractive proposition. One lot for commercial use, situated on the Central Reclamation, was sold at a price of $258 million, equivalent to $4,868 per square foot, which sets a new record in land values. The purchasers intend to erect a 50-storey office building, which it is claimed will be the tallest building in Asia, and foundation work is already well advanced.
1.03. A consortium of private companies is to develop land and sea bed at Kwai Chung as a container terminal. The Civil Engineering and Highways Offices have undertaken to carry out the dredging of the sea approaches and the construction of access roads to the terminal respectively.
1.04. The preliminaries for urban renewal continued during the year. A number of the properties required were acquired by negotiations and others were in the process of being resumed.
1.05. A new Technical Institute was completed at Morrison Hill with funds provided by the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club. The Institute is the first of its kind in the Colony and comprises classrooms,