FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1979
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SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDUSTRY VISITS TSUEN WAN NEW TOWN ******
THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDUSTRY, THE RT. HON. ERIC VARLEY TODAY (FRIDAY) VISITED TSUEN WAN, HONG KONG'S FASTEST GROWING INDUSTRIAL TOWN.
THE MINISTER AND HIS PARTY WENT TO THE ROOF OF ONE OF TSUEN WAN'S NEWEST BUILDINGS, THE 22-STOREY FU WAH CENTRE, WHERE THEY HAD A BIRD'S EYEVIEW OF THE TOWN'S DEVELOPMENT, AND BRIEFINGS FROM THE TSUEN WAN TOWN MANAGER, MR. JAMES HAYES AND THE PROJECT MANAGER, MR. EDDIE SHORT.
MR. VARLEY WAS TOLD THAT TSUEN WAN WAS THE CRADLE OF HONG KONG'S POST-WAR INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION WHEN INDUSTRIALISTS SET UP TEXTILES AND GARMENT MANUFACTURING PLANTS IN THE EARLY 50'S.
+TSUEN WAN HAS NOT STOPPED GROWING SINCE AND ITS PRESENT POPULATION OF AROUND 500,000 WILL BE ALMOST DOUBLED BY THE MIDDLE OF THE NEXT DECADE,+ MR. HAYES SAID.
HE ADDED THAT MR. VARLEY SEEMED VERY IMPRESSED BY THE TREMENDOUS GROWTH RATE OF THE INDUSTRY IN TSUEN WAN.
+ IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS THE NUMBER OF INDUSTRIAL UNDERTAKINGS HAS ALMOST DOUBLED FROM 3,208 TO 6,227,+ MR. HAYES SAID.
HE POINTED OUT THAT FACTORY FLOOR SPACE WAS ALSO BECOMING AVAILABLE IN DRAMATICALLY INCREASING QUANTITIES. BETWEEN 1974-78 THE FLATTED FACTORY FLOOR SPACE SUPPLY IN TSUEN WAN AND KWAI CHUNG HAD REACHED JUST OVER ONE MILLION SQUARE METRES.
HOWEVER, IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS, IT IS EXPECTED THAT SOME 1.2 MILLION SQUARE METRES WILL COME ON STREAM.
+APART FROM THIS TSING YI ISLAND IS QUICKLY DEVELOPING AS THE TERRITORY'S HEAVY INDUSTRIAL BASE WITH THREE MAJOR SHIPYARDS UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND THE VARIETY OF OTHER SPECIALIST INDUSTRIES IN OPERATION.
+THE CONTAINER PORT AT KWAI CHUNG, WHICH HANDLED MOST OF HONG KONG'S OVERSEAS TRADE, COMPLETES THE PICTURE OF A VERY PROGRESSIVE AND GROWING INDUSTRIAL TOWN, MR. HAYES SAID.
LATER IN THE MORNING, MR. VARLEY TOOK A CLOSE LOOK AT HOW HONG KONG'S ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY WORKS.
ACCOMPANIED BY THE DIRECTOR OF TRADE, INDUSTRY AND CUSTOMS, MR. DAVID JORDAN, THE MINISTER TOURED TWO KWAI CHUNG MULTI-STOREY FACTORIES OF PHILIPS HONG KONG LTD.
IN THE FIRST FACTORY MR. VALEY'S PARTY WAS SHOWN THE ENTIRE SERIES OF MANUFACTURING PROCESSES REQUIRED IN PRODUCING TRANSISTORS, DIODES AND OTHER SEMI-CONDUCTORS.
AR. VARLEY