CO129-613-3 Scheme for reclamation of southern shore of Deep Bay 4-9-1946 - 19-11-1947 — Page 22

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Tak airport is thus in the neighbourhood of $10,750,000 or £672,000,

but this sum will not be realisable until after the Deep Bay airport

has been completed.

8.

In the present financial circumstances of the

Colony, it is extremely difficult to estimate what proportion of any

lean granted for the purpose of financing the construction of this

airport could eventually be repaid from Hong Kong funds. It is

obvious that the benefits to Hong Kong from the scheme will be in-

direct and that the revere obtainable from landing fees and other

charges will not be sufficient to meet interest charges on any loan.

The airport will, however, be an important link in the chain of

Imperial Communications and will also provide excellent facilities

for planes of the Royal Air Force and Fleet Air Arm. Its value

will not be limited to air line operators from the United Kingdom

but it will also be of importance to the trans-Pacific services

operated from Australia and New Zealand. I am therefore of the

opinion that the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Air Ministry

might reasonably be asked to contribute half of the cost of

construction in the form of a free grant of £2,000,000. I wish

also to apply for a grant of £1,000,000 from the General Reserve

of the Colonial Welfare and Development Fund. I note that during

the period from 1st April, 1945, to 31st March, 1946, only a few

comparatively minor grants were made in aid of the development of

civil aviation and assume that this is accounted for by the fact

that in most Colonies airfields were brought to their maximum

development during the earlier years of the war. Such expansion

to meet modern requirements was precluded in Hong Kong by the

enemy occupation and it is only now that this major need for the

development of the Colony has become outstandingly apparent.

9.

The balance of the cost of construction could fairly

be charged to the revenues of the Colony and would be offset to a

large extent by the eventual sale of Kai Tak. If the proceeds of

the Kai Tak sale exceeded £1,000,000 the Colonial Welfare and