Tuesday, May 1, 1973
MAINTENANCE DEPOT FOR MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY
The main maintenance depot for the Mass Transit Railway and administrative
buildings for the whole system will be built on the Kowloon Bay reclamation
opposite the Ngau Tau Kok Public Housing Estate.
The whole complex will cover 28 acres. Work on site formation must
begin in July if the railway system is to be built on schedule.
The completed project will include the central marshalling yard for
the Mass Transit Railway, accommodation for administration offices, maintenance
sheds, storage and workshop areas, as well as the Kowloon Bay Station.
A government spokesman said today that the first part of the complex
would be in use by the second half of 1975. This vital part of the system
could provide facilities for assembling and testing trains, training drivers
and other staff, and welding railway track. It would ultimately be the nerve
centre of the entire system.
To provide this site, apart from land reclamation, the area along
the stretch of Kwun Tong Road, opposite the Ngau Tau Kok Public Housing Estate
will have to be cleared.
Nearly 140 industrial undertakings and about 40 shops in the area
occupy sites previously held on Crown Land permits which were cancelled last
year on three months notice. (The last of these permits expired on September 1,
last year). About 500 people live on the site.
/Clearance