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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

Maximizing Council property by composite buildings

The Council has been working closely with the Town Planning Office and the Crown Lands & Survey Office with a view to obtaining additional land for development. As I emphasized in my speech last year the shortage of land for development continues to be a serious A part solution lies in the redevelopment to their full problem. potential of the many ancient buildings under the Council's control, and I hasten to add, not worthy of the Heritage Society's attention. Typical examples are the Sing Wo Road and the Spring Garden Lane public toilets and refuse collection points for which revised layout plans have been approved and working drawings are in hand.

The redevelopment of Sai Wan Ho Market, To Kwa Wan Market, Wan Chai Market and Lockhart Road Market are under active planning and we have made a start on planning 4 joint-user market building projects which have been left dormant for a number of years because of co-ordination difficulties between Government departments.

To maximize development of sites, the Council has decided on a policy of including as many additional Urban Council facilities as practicable in future market buildings. The main facilities to be provided are: market stalls and mini stalls, cooked-food stalls, refuse collection point, public toilets, district library, indoor and rooftop recreational facilities and office accommodation for the staff. Whenever practicable a restaurant will be included.

Use of private consultants to expedite projects

Following the point I made last year about using private consultants to break the log jam of delay caused by shortage of professional talent in the P.W.D. we have now overcome the procedural problems with the Government and two packages of about 10 projects each have been farmed out through the Architectural Office to private architectural consultant firms. The major projects include the Tin Wan Market, Ko Shan Road Recreation Ground, Cape Collinson Road Park and the extension to Victoria Park. Two other packages are in the process of being farmed out. In addition an expert in fountain design from Rizal Park, Manila, where many most attractive fountains are to be seen, was also engaged. His report proposed a number of sites for fountains and design work is in process of implementation.

A new Minor Works Block Vote was created this year and this has facilitated the processing of minor projects obviating the need for

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small but urgent items going through the interminable chain of Public Works Programme procedures.

Use of maintenance free materials

The Council is now insisting on the use of maintenance free materials in order to save future maintenance costs, and a major scheme on refurbishment of public toilets to a much improved standard and using such materials will be implemented next year. Smilar exercises for other projects will also be carried out, depending upon their nature and life expectancy. The Architectural Office and private consultants have also been instructed to enhance their designs by their greater use of colour and whenever possible flowers and vegetation. The most recent designs now reflect this.

Crowds on beaches and Creating beaches

The Director of Urban Services Annual Report estimates that nearly 17 million people used bathing beaches last year, and 3.3 million used the swimming pool complexes. This mammoth figure shows where the demand lies and I suggest we make every effort to meet this challenge by intensifying pool complex construction and extending and opening up new beaches. This is easier said than done, as although given sites and finance we can produce swimming pools, Mother Nature takes her own good time at creating beaches. But experience in the Mediterranean, Hawaii and elsewhere has demonstrated that the natural process can be accelerated by carefully designed hydraulic and civil engineering works. Preliminary sketches of an imaginative scheme for Repulse Bay to increase the beach area seems to point the way to a new look at our beaches, our greatest recreational asset. This study will need a combined effort by both Government and the Council and I will ensure that it is given the necessary inpetus in the Planning and Development Select Committee.

I would thank the Architectural Office and Crown Lands and Survey Office who are both represented on my Committee, for being helful and cooperative during the year, and the Planning Division of the U.S.D. who cheerfully cope with our burgeoning demands, and in this connection I am glad to learn that approval for additional staff sorely needed to cope has been received. But alas they will have nowhere to work unless the Administration Select Committee can obtain suitable accommodation for them.

Public Housing

Turning to housing and speaking as one of the 8 Urban Councillors appointed to the Housing Authority it seems to me that for various

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