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7
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Tuesday, December 11, 1973
suitable for development as industrial estates.
Criteria for selection
are fairly tight, as services must be economical and the land formation
costs must not be too high, if the land is to be made available at prices
which industry can support. However, I hope that an announcement can be
made in the early summer about areas which can be made available. Similarly
the Junk Bay area, originally developed as a ship-broaking area is being
re-examined to see whether a more economic usage could be permitted for
the relatively large tracts of idle land in the area.
A properly thought out industrial land policy is essential for
industrial development and, ultimately, for our economic growth. Failure
to meet this requirement could result in a few years time, in our growth
rate, instead of continuing to rise, being stuck on a plateau.
A great
deal of work has been done in the past year within the Government to
examine the land requirements for various sectors of industry; not only
to encourage large new ventures such as those I have just mentioned,
but also to ensure that existing industries can continue to develop
and expand.
Industrial progress does not, of course, depend only upon
adequate land being available. There are other elements too numerous to
mention. But technical training, productivity, standards, design and
marketing are all important contributors to industrial efficiency. I
think it is not too much to say that there has been continued improvement
in all of these. Like you, Dr. Chuang, I was particularly pleased to see
the formal establishment in October of the new Hong Kong Training Council
under the chairmanship of Mr. T.K. Ann. This Council has a vital part
to play in ensuring that our young people are adequately trained to undertake
the skilled industrial work which is now more and more needed. I note
/also
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