ENG-1955 — Page 202

156

HONG KONG ANNUAL REPORT

waterfront and the completion of a permanent government pier. The service is expected to start early in 1956.

During 1955 two new ferries, the Man Yan and Man Cheong, were completed and put into service, and a third vessel was launched. The Company had earlier purchased five steel single-ended ferries, prefabricated by Messrs. Yarrow & Co. Ltd., at Scotstoun, Glasgow. The ferries completed this year, however, are considered to be an improvement on earlier designs and have been built at the Hong Kong Shipyard. A fourth sister-ship, also under construction at the yard, is scheduled for launching in February 1956. The dimensions of these vessels are length overall 103′6′′, breadth moulded 24', depth moulded 9', with British-made marine diesel engines. They carry a maximum of 650 passengers. On completion of the new ferry now being built, the Company will have a fleet of 44 diesel-engined ferry vessels, ranging from 6 vehicular ferries each capable of carrying 800 passengers and 30 vehicles, to the smallest wooden ferry vessel, Man Ching, with a carrying capacity of 197 passengers.

Maintenance of the ferry fleet is carried out at the Company's depôt at Tai Kok Tsui, where two slipways were completed by the end of the year, the larger of which is capable of taking vessels up to 500 tons. The depôt now consists of a machine shop, 3 slipways, a pier, a boiler makers' shop, and various departments concerned with main- taining the fleet's efficiency.

PUBLIC WORKS

The reclamation, begun in 1951, of nine acres of land in a central position on the Victoria waterfront was completed in August. This reclamation will provide a site for a City Hall, as well as a concourse area for a large new passenger ferry pier. Construction of this new pier, together with a similar one at Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, to replace the present obsolete "Star" ferry piers in Hong Kong and Kowloon, was started in October, and is expected to be completed by April 1958. A partial use of the new piers, however, should be possible by April 1957.

Work on the construction of the modern Sports Stadium at Sookunpo was completed in September, with the exception of the installation of a public address system and flood-