WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1978
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SPREADING OUT OF THE CITY - ESSENTIAL TO SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
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THE GOVERNOR, SIR MURRAY MACLEHOSE, TODAY UNDERLINED THE NEED FOR SPREAD ING OUT OF THE CITY INTO NEW AREAS TO ACHIEVE NOT ONLY BETTER LIVING STANDARDS BUT NEW ENVIRONMENT, NEW INDUSTRY AND NEW ECONOMIC FLEXIBILITY.
IN HIS OPENING ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, HE SAID THIS YEAR'S PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME WILL EXCEED $3,000 MILLION AND MAY VERY WELL RISE NEXT YEAR TO PROVIDE FOR THE GROWTH OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL LIFE OF HONG KONG IN THE NEXT FIVE OR SIX YEARS.
+ IT MUST BE THE LARGEST PROGRAMME UNDERTAKEN BY ANY CITY PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT IN THE WORLD,+ HE SAID.
SIR MURRAY OUTLINED SOME OF THE MAJOR COMMUNICATIONS PROJECTS THAT ARE BASIC TO HONG KONG'S DEVELOPMENT.
HE SAID BY 1981, ABERDEEN WILL BE LINKED WITH THE LION ROCK TUNNEL BY MEANS OF THE ABERDEEN TUNNEL AND A SERIES OF ELEVATED HIGHWAYS AND FLYOVERS, BY 1985 THE NEW MOTORWAY WILL BE BUILT ALONG THE NORTH COAST OF THE ISLAND LINKING VICTORIA AND SHAU KEI WAN.
+ IN KOWLOON, BY 1980 THE AIRPORT TUNNEL LINK WITH KWUN TONG WILL BE COMPLETED AND THE CORRIDOR UP THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE PENINSULA FROM GASCOIGNE ROAD TO LAI CHI KOK, ALREADY UNDER CONSTRUCTION, WILL BE COMPLETED BY 1984.
+BY 1981 THE KOWLOON-CANTON RAILWAY SHOULD BE DOUBLE-TRACKED AND ELECTRIFIED TO THE FRONTIER AND LINKED TO THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY THROUGH THE KOWLOON TONG INTERCHANGE.+
BY 1980, HE ADDED, THE SECOND HALF OF THE SIX-LANE TSUEN WAN/ TUEN MUN HIGHWAY WOULD BE OPEN AND THE TSUEN WAN BY-PASS BY MID-1983.
AND BY THE END OF 1981 THE NEW COASTAL MOTORWAY FROM SHA TIN TO TAI PO WILL BE COMPLETED, WHILE THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY ITSELF WILL BE IN FULL OPERATION IN THE URBAN AREA BY APRIL 1980 AND TO TSUEN WAN BY 1982.
+SO BY 1983 THE DRIVING TIME FROM SAY, AP LI CHAU TO TUEN MUN COULD BE ABOUT 45 MINUTES, GIVE OR TAKE A MINUTE OR TWO, A JOURNEY BY UNDERGROUND FROM CENTRAL TO TSUEN WAN SHOULD TAKE ABOUT 28 MINUTES, OR FROM HUNG HOM TO TAI PO AND SHEUNG SHUI EY TRAIN ABOUT 28 AND 36 MINUTES.
+THIS WILL BE A FAR CRY FROM THE HONG KONG HEMMED IN EY THE MOUNTAINS ROUND THE HARBOUR OF 10 OR 15 YEARS AGO, SIR MURRAY SAID.
SIR MURRAY NOTED THAT THE VAST PUBLIC WORKS PROJECTS, COUPLED WITH THOSE OF THE PRIVATE SECTOR, WAS NOW SO INTENSE THAT HONG KONG GIVES THE IMPRESSION OF BEING ONE GREAT CONSTRUCTION SITE.
+1 DEEPLY SYMPATHISE WITH THOSE WHO LIVE AND WORK CLOSEST TO THE DUST AND NOISE AND THE TRAFFIC CONGESTION. BUT OUT OF THIS INCONVENIENT ACTIVITY WILL EMERGE, AND EMERGE SOON, A HONG KONG THAT IS LARGELY TRANSFORMED FROM THE CITY WE HAVE KNOWN. +
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