ENG-1958 — Page 272

PUBLIC UTILITIES AND PUBLIC WORKS

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land to be reclaimed in this scheme will permit Tong Mi Road to be widened and extended.

In the New Territories, piers at Kat O Island, Tap Mun Island and Chi Ma Wan Prison on Lantau were completed, while work commenced on the construction of piers at Kei Ling Ha Hoi and Sok Kwu Wan in Tolo Harbour and on Lamma Island respective- ly. The construction of three breakwaters between Tsing Yi Island and Nga Ying Chau was also started in 1958. When complete, these breakwaters will form a typhoon anchorage to replace the existing natural typhoon shelter at Tsuen Wan which is being rapidly absorbed by a reclamation scheme. The sea wall for this reclamation, which is now under construction, is to be approxi- mately 3,500 feet long and should be completed by the end of 1959.

Mr. F. H! Allen, Director of the United Kingdom Hydraulics Research Laboratory, visited Hong Kong in July in order to investigate and report on the possible effects of further reclama- tion and other works in the Harbour area.

During the year a total number of 11,000 tests on various kinds of engineering and building materials were carried out. Out of these, 1,300 tests were made for private architects and contractors; this represented a remarkable increase over the figure (606) for the previous year. With the installation of a new 200-ton compression machine, the Laboratory was able to test larger and stronger samples than before for compressive strength.

Buildings. The contruction of buildings by the Public Works Department progressed steadily' throughout the year, but the pro- gramme of new works was so heavy that it proved necessary to commission private architects to design and supervise the construc- tion of some twenty of the new projects.

At the central reclamation in Victoria, the construction by the Public Works Department of the second and smaller three-tiered car park was completed, providing accommodation for nearly 200 cars. This building, which has not yet been opened for use, adjoins the site of the proposed new City Hall, the drawings for which had been completed and piling tenders invited by the end of the year. For the Medical Department, piling was finished and tenders received for the second stage of the Castle Peak Mental Hospital.