TNAG-0774-FCO40-978-Redevelopment-of-the-former-Kowloon-Canton-Railway-Station-1978 — Page 54

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布政司署

香港下亞風華道

**EX Our Ref.:

TC 252/77

* Your Ref.:

The Hong Kong Heritage Society,

1903 Hang Chong Building,

5 Queen's Road Central,

Hong Kong.

GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT

LOWER ALBERT ROAD

HONG KONG

30th December, 1977.

Dear Sirs,

His Excellency the Acting Governor has authorised me to reply to your petition of 29th July 1977 concerning the former Kowloon-Canton Railway Station building and various other matters relating to town planning of the Tsim Sha Tsui area.

I am directed to inform you that the Governor in Council has decided that the public interest would be best served by not preserving the former Kowloon-Canton Railway Station building.

The Governor in Council also rejected the request for an independent inquiry on, or comprehensive re-examination of, the current draft plan for the Tsim Sha Tsui area and, in particular, of the proposed location of a public transport terminus on the site of the Marine Police Station.

These decisions have been taken having regard to a number of factors, of which the principal ones are summarised below.

The decision not to preserve the former Kowloon-Canton Railway Station building should be viewed against the clear and urgent public need for additional civic cultural facilities in Kowloon.

The proposed cultural complex cannot be resited with the scale of facilities envisaged, and in a manner appropriate to its importance, because of physical constraints. These include the Planetarium building under construction, as well as reserves for the Mass Transit Railway and the underground services pipes and cables for public utility companies which cross the harbour from this area.

/The effects

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