February_1965 — Page 36

Soil loosening by high pressure water gun

High voltage sub-station at Chiao Tou

river at ascending levels, while the pumping stations will transfer the water collected in each section up to the next section, each station raising the water an average of six metres.

Apart from the first two pumping stations, three or four pumps are

being installed at each station, mak- ing a total of 32 pumps. The most southerly station near Yen Tien will have the most work to do raising the water 15 metres. Altogether the whole scheme will raise the water through a total height of 49 metres.

Surplus water handled by the pumps will be used to irrigate land between the East River and Shum Chun.

It has been necessary to widen and deepen the rivers involved over stretches totalling ten kilometres in order that they can handle not only the volume of water being pumped up to Hong Kong but also water flowing in the opposite direction at times of flood. Also a much larger pipeline from Shum Chun reservoir to Lo Wu on the frontier had to be installed.

Cable Lines

To serve the construction work and to operate the pumps, two 110 Kw high-tension cable lines have been erected, bringing power from Wei Yang Hsien to the north east to two points on the scheme, Chiao Tou and Tang Tou Hsia. The first, to Chiao Tou, is 30.5 kilometres long and the second to Tang Tou Hsia, is 48.5 kilometres long. A 60 kilometre long network of cables feeds power from these two points to every con- struction site.

All equipment, materials and heavy machinery employed on the project have been produced in China. A peak labour force of 19,000 has been employed on the project and at present about 14,000 are at work.

To date the two big reservoirs at Yen Tien and Shum Chun have been enlarged and fortified, the eight pumping stations have been com- pleted and all the pumps have been installed. Of the six dams, three are already complete and three are at an advanced state of construction. The canals too are on the point of completion. All this has been achieved within only ten months of work starting on the site.

At Chi Ling an old stone barrage has been blasted away and is being

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van.

Seven stanchions complete for the Ma Tan dam

Far East Architect & Builder February, 1965