Page L
GENERAL
INTRODUCTION
1.01. The Colony of Hong Kong has an area of approximately 400 square miles and a population approaching 4,000,000. The bulk of this population is concentrated in a very intensively developed area of some nine square miles covering the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon from Lei Yue Mun in the east to Lai Chi Kok in the west. The new town of Tsuen Wan in the New Territories a few miles to the north-west of Lai Chi Kok has developed rapidly and now has a population of 250,000. The extent of these urban concentrations is shown on the frontispiece map.
1.02. The year 1968-69 saw a return to more stable conditions following the political disturbances of the previous year and the banking crisis of two years before. There was an upsurge in activity in the property market with an increased demand for Crown Land, mainly for industrial development. Although the capital cost of completed private building works was the lowest for nearly a decade, there was a marked increase in the number of new projects being planned with particular interest in apartments, tenements and industrial buildings.
1.03. For the Public Works Department the year was one of re-appraisal. A planning and engineering feasibility study of a Pilot Scheme for Urban Renewal in the western part of the Central District on Hong Kong Island was completed and a Working Party which was appointed to assess the Underground Railway proposals of the Hong Kong Mass Transport Study submitted its report in August. A forecast of the Colony's road requirements for the next twenty years was contained in the report of the Hong Kong Long Term Road Study which was submitted to Government by the Consultants in October. The effect of all these proposals on public and private development had to be assessed in detail. As a result, some Government projects had to be modified and negotiations were started for acquisition of certain private properties where proposed redevelopment would have frustrated these schemes.
1.04. The final report of the Water Resources Survey and a report on the possibilities of producing drinking water from sea water were
Page LI
Page L
GENERAL
INTRODUCTION
1.01. The Colony of Hong Kong has an area of approximately 400 square miles and a population approaching 4,000,000. The bulk of this population is concentrated in a very intensively developed area of some nine square miles covering the northern shore of Hong Kong Island, the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon from Lei Yue Mun in the east to Lai Chi Kok in the west. The new town of Tsuen Wan in the New Territories a few miles to the north-west of Lai Chi Kok has developed rapidly and now has a population of 250,000. The extent of these urban concentrations is shown on the frontispiece map.
1.02. The year 1968-69 saw a return to more stable conditions following the political disturbances of the previous year and the banking crisis of two years before. There was an upsurge in activity in the property market with an increased demand for Crown Land, mainly for industrial development. Although the capital cost of completed private building works was the lowest for nearly a decade, there was a marked increase in the number of new projects being planned with particular interest in apartments, tenements and industrial buildings.
1.03. For the Public Works Department the year was one of re- appraisal. A planning and engineering feasibility study of a Pilot Scheme for Urban Renewal in the western part of the Central District on Hong Kong Island was completed and a Working Party which was appointed to assess the Underground Railway proposals of the Hong Kong Mass Transport Study submitted its report in August. A forecast of the Colony's road requirements for the next twenty years was contained in the report of the Hong Kong Long Term Road Study which was submitted to Government by the Consultants in October. The effect of all these proposals on public and private development had to be assessed in detail. As a result, some Government projects had to be modified and negotiations were started for acquisition of certain private properties where proposed redevelopment would have frustrated these schemes
1.04. The final report of the Water Resources Survey and a report on the possibilities of producing drinking water from sea water were
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