TNAG-1723-FCO40-2436-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 144

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interested parties in road opening that is, the public

utilities, the Highways Department, other government departments la

such as Water Supplies

Department, the police and on some

occasions, Transport. I do not think anything much would be

achieved by setting up a special department for this because

the road is also part of the highways system; highways

maintenance has to be for the purpose of repairing excavations

and for other purposes and I do not think it would be efficient

to set up a new organisation.

Mr. EDWARD HO: Sir, would the Government inform this Council

whether for major traffic routes a study has been made into

the feasibility of constructing service tunnels under roadways

to minimise road excavation, and, likewise, the construction

of removal panels in footpaths to avoid digging up of footpaths?

SECRETARY FOR LANDS AND WORKS: Sir, a study was made in the

early planning of Tuen Mun New Town as to the possibility of

the town being served by common-user ducts, but the utilities

which must go under roads are varied and cannot all be put very

close to each other, particularly telephone lines and electric

cables, and each utility requires a certain amount of room round

it to effect repairs. The result is that the duct to cover all

utilities must be quite a substantial tube into which workmen

can enter. At the time when this was considered for Tuen Mun

it was found that this would

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even in the context of the new

town being built on a green field site - add very substantially

to the cost of the road and it was for that reason discarded.

I feel that it is necessary to look at this one again, particularly