HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
fact joined the scheme, but that does not deprive those who could not join the scheme of eventual resettlement and as I have indicated in the third part of my answer, a fair proportion of those who have not joined the scheme will nevertheless be resettled this year.
(15) MR. A. de O. SALES asked the following question:-
May we know whether it is Government's intention to allocate to this Council a suitable ground in Kowloon for the express purpose of building a full-sized football stadium with all the ancillary facilities that are required?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
Committee Paper UA/35/64, which was issued to Members of the Urban Amenities Select Committee on 23rd July, 1964, referred to an area of 24.1 acres provisionally reserved for a Kowloon Government Stadium at Ma Chai Hang, just north of Lung Cheung Road and immediately to the east of the new Lion Rock Park. This area was shown as Site No. 22 on the map of Amenity Planning Zone K4, which was enclosed with the Committee Paper I have mentioned.
2.
This provisional site reservation was made primarily with the intention of meeting the future need for a major football stadium in Kowloon comparable in size and facilities to the existing Government Stadium on Hong Kong Island. I should add that the Department has recently suggested to the Superintendent of Crown Lands and Survey that Lai Chi Kok Bay, if it were reclaimed, might offer a better site for a major football stadium than the site now reserved at Ma Chai Hang. When the Superintendent's views on this possible alternative are known, the matter will be referred to the Urban Amenities Select Committee for consideration.
MR. SALES:-Mr. Chairman, having regard to the absence of such facilities in Kowloon where the population is so great, may we know when is it expected that the alternative site will be ready?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-I would say, Mr. Chairman, it will be many years before the reclamation at Lai Chi Kok Bay will be sufficiently advanced to build a stadium. This is something of a guess but there are many complicated drainage problems and land problems involved at Lai Chi Kok if there is any large scale development going on at the seaward edge.
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MR. SALES: Would the first site be available immediately for construction?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-I would need notice of that question, Mr. Chairman.
MR. SALES: Sir, would you please make representations to Government that, until the full sized stadium is ready for use in Kowloon, perhaps the site that is now occupied by the Police Force could be transferred to the Urban Council? Sir, would you be prepared to make those representations which reflect public opinion on this particular point?
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, I am prepared to forward to Government your own observations on this matter and any observations from this Council which I am instructed by the Council to forward.
(16) MR. A. de O. SALES asked the following question:
Will you please make a statement on the plant nurseries for which the Urban Services Department is responsible? How many plants are there? What is the estimated number available each year for planting in urban areas?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
The Urban Services Department's plant nurseries now occupy about 13 acres of land which are not required for other uses at the present time. Altogether these nurseries contain an estimated 261,000 young trees and shrubs. 11,000 of these trees are growing in special semi-mature tree nurseries, and some of them are already more than 6 feet tall. Nursery production for the coming 12 months has been set at 300,000 trees and shrubs comprising 180 different kinds of tree and 225 different kinds of shrub. These figures will represent a very considerable achievement, for only two years ago the annual production of trees and shrubs amounted to less than 30,000.
During the past two years the department has concentrated on expanding production of trees and shrubs, as distinct from flowers, because the former take so much longer to grow. It is now intended to restore the balance, and work is starting now on the nursery production, during the coming 12 months, of an estimated 400,000 flowering plants for
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Page 99 of 382
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fact joined the scheme, but that does not deprive those who could not join the scheme of eventual resettlement and as I have indicated in the third part of my answer, a fair proportion of those who have not joined the scheme will nevertheless be resettled this year.
(15) MR. A. de O. SALES asked the following question:-
May we know whether it is Government's intention to allocate to this Council a suitable ground in Kowloon for the ex- press purpose of building a full-sized football stadium with all the ancillary facilities that are required?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
Committee Paper UA/35/64, which was issued to Members of the Urban Amenities Select Committee on 23rd July, 1964, referred to an area of 24.1 acres provisionally reserved for a Kowloon Government Stadium at Ma Chai Hang, just north of Lung Cheung Road and immediately to the east of the new Lion Rock Park. This area was shown as Site No. 22 on the map of Amenity Planning Zone K4, which was enclosed with the Committee Paper I have mentioned.
2.
This provisional site reservation was made primarily with the intention of meeting the future need for a major foot- ball stadium in Kowloon comparable in size and facilities to the existing Government Stadium on Hong Kong Island. I should add that the Department has recently suggested to the Superintendent of Crown Lands and Survey that Lai Chi Kok Bay, if it were reclaimed, might offer a better site for a major football stadium than the site now reserved at Ma Chai Hang. When the Superintendent's views on this possible alternative are known, the matter will be referred to the Urban Amenities Select Committee for consideration.
MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, having regard to the absence of such facilities in Kowloon where the population is so great, may we know when is it expected that the alternative site will be ready?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-I would say, Mr. Chairman, it will be many years before the reclamation at Lai Chi Kok Bay will be sufficiently advanced to build a stadium. This is something of a guess but there are many complicated drainage problems and land problems involved at Lai Chi Kok if there is any large scale development going on at the seaward edge.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
177
MR. SALES: Would the first site be available immediately for construction?
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:-I would need notice of that ques- tion, Mr. Chairman.
MR. SALES: Sir, would you please make representations to Government that, until the full sized stadium is ready for use in Kow- loon, perhaps the site that is now occupied by the Police Force could be transferred to the Urban Council? Sir, would you be prepared to make those representations which reflect public opinion on this particular point?
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, I am prepared to forward to Government your own observations on this matter and any observations from this Council which I am instructed by the Council to forward.
(16) MR. A. de O. SALES asked the following question:
Will you please make a statement on the plant nurseries for which the Urban Services Department is responsible? How many plants are there? What is the estimated number available each year for planting in urban areas?
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:
The Urban Services Department's plant nurseries now occupy about 13 acres of land which are not required for other uses at the present time. Altogether these nurseries contain an estimated 261,000 young trees and shrubs. 11,000 of these trees are growing in special semi-mature tree nurseries, and some of them are already more than 6 feet tall. Nursery production for the coming 12 months has been set at 300,000 trees and shrubs comprising 180 different kinds of tree and 225 different kinds of shrub. These figures will represent a very considerable achieve- ment, for only two years ago the annual production of trees and shrubs amounted to less than 30,000.
During the past two years the department has concentrated on expanding production of trees and shrubs, as distinct from flowers, because the former take so much longer to grow. It is now intended to restore the balance, and work is starting now on the nursery production, during the coming 12 months, of an estimated 400,000 flowering plants for
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