ROYAL VISIT
PRESS RELEASE
Sunday, March 30, 1975
DUKE WILL HAVE A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF HIGH ISLAND WATER SCHEME
Construction Of Hong Kong's Biggest Reservoir 50 Per Cent Complete
The Duke of Edinburgh will see something of the High Island
Water Scheme when he is taken on a helicopter flight on Monday, May 5,
to attend engagements in the New Territories..
He will see this "reservoir-in-the-sea", being built at a cost
of $1,500 million, which was begun in 1972, and is now nearly 50 per cent
complete. It is expected to start impounding water some time next year.
The Duke will probably be impressed if he asks for statistics.
When the major works are completed in 1979, the reservoir will be able
to hold 60,000 million gallons of water, nearly doubling Hong Kong's present
total storage capacity of 67,300 million gallons, which will then rise
to about 128,000 million gallons.
Hong
The reservoir will have a surface area of 1,700 acres.
Kong's first reservoir, at Pok Fu Lam, completed in 1877, could fit into
it more than 900 times over.
High Island's construction involves the dredging of 8.5 million
cubic yards of marine deposits, and the network of tunnels which will carry
water to it is 25 miles long.
The scale of the scheme is strikingly apparent, whether seen on
site or from the air. Some work areas amount to the size of small townships.
In addition
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