ENG-1956 — Page 264

PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC WORKS

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Hong Kong. This includes the new City Hall, a three-storey car park for 418 cars and a covered way linking the Ferry Pier to a pedestrian bridge over Connaught Road. Work commenced on the construction of the first section of the covered ways; working drawings were completed for the car park; and working drawings were commenced for the City Hall.

Water-borne sewage systems are provided in nearly all built-up areas, including the larger towns in the New Terri- tories. As reconstruction of old buildings and the erection of large new blocks of flats continues, the number of new connexions made is steadily increasing. Many of the older sewers are thus becoming loaded beyond their designed capacity, and the work of relaying and enlarging them is going steadily forward. Major schemes have also been ap- proved for the provision of intercepting sewers, which will abolish the numerous outfalls into the harbour and bring the sewage to selected sites, where it will be chemically treated and thereafter discharged via submarine outfalls. The first project covering the western side of the Kowloon Peninsula is virtually complete, while a start has been made on both the intercepting sewers required for the eastern side of the Kowloon Peninsula and the Wantsai area.

Surface water, draining from the hills through built-up areas, was originally led to the sea via large open-trained channels, known locally as nullahs, which passed down the centres of roads, with bridges at road intersections. These nullahs were frequently 10 feet or more wide and almost square in section, and with the tremendous increase in both vehicular and pedestrian traffic it became essential that such obstructions be removed. During the last five years work on this has proceeded steadily, and many nullahs have been either decked or culverted, greatly relieving congestion on a number of main traffic routes.