Chairman's Statement (Continued)
INLAND LOT 8849, TSAT TSZ MUI ROAD, (ISLAND PLACE), NORTH POINT
The joint venture company, which is 40 per cent owned by the Group and 60 per cent owned by Swire Properties Limited, has completed the residential buildings and a total of 686 units have been sold. The office building was completed in July 1997 and a total of 21 floors have been sold. The retail centre is operating and approximately 99% of the space has been leased.
INLAND LOT 7550, KING'S ROAD, NORTH POINT
Construction of the superstructure of the commercial/office building on Inland Lot 7550, which is 50 per cent owned by the Group and 50 per cent owned by Swire Properties Limited, is in progress. The building is due to be completed in mid 1998.
ABERDEEN INLAND LOT NOS. 338 AND 339, WONG CHUK HANG ROAD, ABERDEEN
The foundation works for an industrial building on Aberdeen Inland Lot Nos. 338 and 339, which are 50 per cent owned by the Group and 50 per cent owned by Swire Properties Limited, have been completed. Further work on site remains on hold pending a recovery in the market for industrial buildings.
FUTURE OUTLOOK
The Company's existing three-year franchise to operate bus services is due to expire on 31st August, 1998. The Company has applied to extend the franchise and we are currently awaiting the Administration's decision. The Company is continuing to review bus operations and is implementing a programme of service improvements including increasing the number of air-conditioned vehicles in the fleet.
Traffic congestion continues to disrupt our services causing inconvenience to passengers, continued problems for our scheduling staff and increases the attractiveness of non-road based public transport. We are pleased to see that Government has implemented a trial bus only lane in Wan Chai and hope to see further schemes implemented in the near future.
The Company has submitted plans within the Route Development Programme to expand its cross-harbour services with proposed additional routes to be operated through the Western Harbour Crossing given the encouraging results of the routes already implemented. Additionally expansion of services to cater for the new and increasing residential developments on Hong Kong Island should help to offset the loss of passengers to other public transport modes.
APPRECIATION
The Directors appointed by the Government under the Public Bus Services Ordinance were Mrs. Lily YAM KWAN Pui-ying, J.P., succeeded by Dr. Dorothy CHAN YUEN Tak-fai, J.P., succeeded by Mrs. Fanny LAW FAN Chiu-fun, J.P. on 4th August, 1997 and the Deputy Secretary for Transport (Transport Services), Mr. Isaac CHOW Yiu Nam. On behalf of the shareholders and my fellow Directors I would like to express our appreciation of their participation in the deliberations of the Board.
year.
In conclusion, I would like to thank our loyal staff for their hard work and dedication to serving the travelling public during the past
Hong Kong, 24th November, 1997
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NGAN Shing-kwan Chairman