November_1966 — Page 33

Far East

ARCHITECT & BUILDER

The oldest trade journal in the Far East

EDITOR: A. G. BARNETT

NOVEMBER 1966

news review

Contents

News Review

World News

Asian Trade Fair Buildings

International Hall ..

Thai Hall ..

Hall of Nations

:

27

3333

37

40

43

45

47

48

Auditorium

Administrative Offices

Circle Cafe

Transportation and Urban Pattern

52

Professor W. G. Gregory

Products on Show at Asian Trade Fair

55-62

Building Plans Approved

65

Contracts Awarded

67

Book Reviews

69

82

Index to Advertisers

Cover picture: Interior of the Hall of Nations-one of the six permanent buildings at the First Asian International Trade Fair, Bangkok. See page 37.

Published monthly by Far East Trade Press Ltd., 1908, Prince's Building Hong Kong. Tel: 241031 European Office: Building and Contract Journals Ltd., 32 Southwark Bridge Road, London, 8. E. I. Tel: Waterloo 2060. Printed by Shum Shing Print- ing Co.. 7 Ship Street, Hong Kong. Tel: 724513.

Controlled circulation to 5,000 qualified readers

TUNNEL TENDERS OUT

AN international call for tenders for the construction of the Hong Kong cross-harbour road tunnel has now been issued by the Cross-Harbour Tunnel Co., Ltd.

The tunnel will be built by the immersed tube method but it is likely that the original plans for letting a separate contract, prior to the main contract, for building a huge casting basin for the tube segments will be dropped.

A spokesman for the promoters said recently that since the plan was conceived several promising alternative methods of construction not requiring a casting basin had been proposed and for this reason the joint consulting engineers had recommended against making the basin the subject of a separate contract. He said that "either way the tunnel will definitely be opened for traffic in 1970“. Concurrent with design work extensive investigations of the sea bed are continuing. About 70 borings have been made and buoys have been moored to test tidal and current flow at different points at various times of the year. A large model of the harbour's natural features and a model of the tunnel have been built and are being used in tests at the Hydraulics Research Station, Wallingford, England.

It is reported that ten firms and consortiums are interested in building the tunnel which is scheduled to be carrying its maximum capacity of 80.000 vehicles a day within ten years.

The consultants are Scott & Wilson, Kirkpatrick and Partners, and Freeman, Fox and Partners.

ADVISORY BOARD WANTED

A CRAVE weakness in Hong Kong's economic aflairs is the lack of a Real Estate Advisory Board, according to Mr. K. C. Pang, a property developer.

Analysing the Colony's real estate development in a public lecture last month, Mr. Pang said that despite the income Government derived, directly and indirectly from real estate and the sums of money that banks had invested in this sector of the economy, a situation existed in which the developers had no consultative relations with Government.

Mr. Pang laid the blame for the present recession in the realty market on the Government and its introduc- tion of new regulations without consultation with deve- lopers.

"The Government's sudden introduction of a build- ing ordinance amendment in 1962 which reduced effective floor space to be built on any block of land was the basis of the abrupt recession in the Hong Kong realty market." he said.

"The building amendment, known as the Building (Planning) (Amendment) 1962, reduced the total amount of area in a building by as much as 40 per cent.

"As a result, the Public Works Department received more than 3,000 sets of drawings in the following few weeks for approval before the amendment went into effect in the next two years or so. The final result was an excess of supply over demand in housing since 1964.

Far East Architect & Builder November, 1966

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