April_1967 — Page 5

Governor Addresses Engineering Society of Hong Kong

PUBLIC WORKS PRIORITIES MAY CHANGE

THE priority given in Hong Kong's public works expen- diture to water schemes, housing, schools and hospitals may be "subjected to some re-assessment" and further effort diverted on to improving roads and other communi- cations systems.

Speaking at the annual dinner of the Engineering Society of Hong Kong last month, the Governor, Sir David Trench, said that this change in priorities might become necessary to prevent the present strain on public works services becoming intolerable.

Reviewing the Colony's public works programme, the Governor said that one of the most significant factors affecting the future of Hong Kong, which came to light in 1966, was the drop in the birth rate and the need to revise population figures downwards.

It was not unreasonable to expect that this general trend would continue but, while plans must be re-assessed in the light of the new figures, it would be premature to cut back too violently on programmes for resettlement, low cost housing, land for industry and private develop- ment, new towns and better roads.

Sir David continued:

"Though re-assessments are now in order and in the long term the new situation will obviously have important effects if the trend continues, much still needs to be done at present: and I cannot see the tempo of our capital de- velopment plans dropping more than rather marginally, immediately.

"To take the case of housing first: 380 buildings had to be closed last year because of their dangerous condition and this means that housing for 20,000 people must be replaced.

"There are large areas of the older parts of the Colony where the buildings are deteriorating, and it would be foolish to think that there will be a reduction in the number of buildings becoming dangerous in future years. Accordingly, our present targets for resettlement and low cost housing may not prove in aggregate to be too wide of the mark, although they may be somewhat on the high side. In any case, we have never thought it a feasible policy to house all our future population in Government or Government assisted housing; and I therefore welcome the interest now being shown in cheap housing by private enterprise.

Private Enterprise

"The entry of the Mobil Oil Company into this field is therefore very welcome, and the Mei Foo Estate now under construction at Lai Chi Kok, plus the equally wel- come Hong Kong Land Investment Company's develop- ment at Shau Kei Wan, will, I hope, be the first of many similar schemes.

"I feel that with the ample supply of formed building sites which is now available, the drop in the cost of con- struction, and the recent concessions on stamp duty con- ditions may now be more favourable to the entry of de- velopers into the low cost housing field than has been the case in the past; and I hope the opportunity will not be missed. If this can now be accompanied by forms of housing development, both Governmental and private. which lead to some reduction in the densities of popula- tion in the urban areas, then indeed much would have been gained.

"The Report of the Working Party set up to consider

Far East Architect & Builder April, 1967

slum clearance is, of course, relevant to these problems and crystallises the difficulties presented by dangerous buildings. Its highly complex but imaginative recom- mendations are now being considered; and it is impossible for me as yet to forecast what solutions may be attempted: but, whatever they may be, I trust that here too they may lead to some decrease in the density of population within these areas.

Communications

Turning to the subject of communications, Sir David said that vehicle ownership was beginning to change the daily life of Hong Kong. Traffic delays, which up to now had simply been a source of inconvenience and an- noyance, were now showing signs of choking a few of the main road arteries of the Colony.

Referring to the report on Public Transport soon to be made available by Freeman, Fox, Wilbur Smith and Associates, he said:

"If they should recommend the construction of an underground railway, or some similar form of transporta- tion, and if we accepted their recommendation, it would, first, be extremely expensive and pose us with a very real problem as to how to find the necessary funds to con- struct the system: it is as yet by no means certain that we should be able to do so.

"Next, there would be associated problems of how to organise and manage the new system. And last, but by no means least, the actual construction of the system would be likely to lead to very severe traffic disruption. But, if we were to proceed, these would be problems which would have to be faced: and the difficulties of surmouting them would have to be balanced against the danger of the Colony choking on its own traffic if nothing were done.

"The same firm of consulting engineers have also been appointed to analyse further the mass of data they have assembled during their mass transit studies, and then to carry out a long term road study. This study should be completed by the end of the year and will, it is hoped, provide sufficient information to establish priorities for the various road improvements recommended."

The Governor said that in addition a small team formed from the Roads Research Laboratory, the traffic engineers, and other supporting staff from the Public Works Department, have been engaged for the past 18 months on a public transport survey. This had been a survey of all kinds of traffic and transportation on the public roads; and, from the data collected, projections had been made of future traffic.

"The results are somewhat terrifying" he said, "for the projections indicate that the logical answer for the future may be to evolve some system of restricting car ownership, not only because of the limited improvements that can be made to the capacity of our roads, but also because the density of the population will make it im- possible for owners to find sufficient car parking space within the urban areas.

"A very large amount of planning and research is therefore going ahead on our communications problems, and we are not proceeding in a hit or miss manner as is sometimes alleged.

(Continued on page 68)

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