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Hong Kong today had only 44 cars per 1,000 residents, compared with 106 per 1,000 in Singapore, 291 in Japan and 565 in the United States, yet its roads were already among the busiest in the world.
Hong Kong had 163 private cars per kilometre of road compared with 102 in Singapore, 32 in Japan and 23 in the United States.
The growth rate had to be held to three per cent or less a year, or Hong Kong's road system would start sliding into paralysis, said the Governor.
Mr Patten said three high-priority projects were expected to help the situation. They were:
* the Western Corridor Railway linking West Kowloon with the border;
* the extension of the Metropolitan Transit Railway to Tseung Kwan O; and
a new rail link between Ma On Shan and Tai Wai, with a Kowloon-Canton Railway extension to Tsim Sha Tsui.
This would take some of the port's container traffic off the roads, as well as serving the commuters in the Northwest New Territories.
Specific proposals were expected from the KCRC by the end of the year and from the MTRC in early 1996, said Mr Patten.
End/Wednesday, October 11, 1995
Government determined to overcome slope hazards
The Government is determined to use the most modem technical resources available to overcome the potential hazards of Hong Kong's unique urban environment, the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, said today (Wednesday).
"Hong Kong lives and works in some of the most densely-occupied high-rise buildings in the world erected on slopes which present some of the world's most challenging geotechnical problems.
"This year's typhoon season brought us a further reminder that we cannot take our physical safety for granted.