TNAG-2351-FCO40-3421-Visits-by-Lord-Caithness--Minister-of-State-for-Foreign-and--1991 — Page 99

Tuen Mun

Overview

Twenty years ago, Tuen Mun was a quiet valley.

Today,

it

is

one of the

home to nearly half a million people.

first generation new towns developed in the

It is

primary objective of establishing new towns was

708.

to

The

alleviate the problem of overcrowding in the urban areas

and to establish largely self-contained and balanced

communities in the more spaceous New Territories under much

better planning. It was planned that each new town should

housing, private

sufficient number and variety of jobs, and adequate

have

a

reasonable

mix of public and

recreational and leisure facilities.

Situated at the northwest

corner of the New

Territories, Tuen Mun is 30 km from urban Kowloon. It has

an area of 3,138 ha, a size comparable to the whole of

Kowloon peninsula.

The planning of Tuen Mun New Town began in the 60s

while major development works took place

the in

70s.

Today, most of the facilities and infrastructure are in

place. At the same time, the district has undergone rapid

transformation, both physically and demographically.

in

Over the past two decades, there were drastic

both changes,

terms of net increase and

internal movement. The population has now reached 400,000,

population

almost twenty-fold of its 1971

figure of 20,000.

It is