TNAG-1610-FCO40-22132-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1987 — Page 74

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44.

From now on, however, redevelopment in the

older urban areas will become an increasing priority. The new land required for this will have to come from harbour reclamations. It is already clear to that a greater proportion of the resources available for capital investment will have to go towards expanding the

essential economic infrastructure of the territory, especially our port facilities. The rapid growth of cargo traffic, particularly container traffic, makes this

essential.

-

45.

Last year, the

the port handled a record 14,100

ocean-going vessels and 82,000 river trade vessels; and

the numbers of both have been steadily growing in recent

years. The number of containers handled has also

per cent increased by as much as 50in three years. Expansion is expected to continue in the next few years by an average

per cent of at least a year. It has been boosted by the rapid

growth, over almost a decade now, of Hong Kong's role as

an entrepot and transhipment centre for China, in line

with the expansion of China's own world trade. We now

possess the second largest container port in the world in

terms of

of throughput and may soon become the

the largest.

Port expansion must therefore be our first priority for

/maintaining

in