ENG-1961 — Page 274

228

PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

To supplement the existing automatic tide gauges at Chi Ma Wan and North Point, a third gauge was installed at Tai Po. Recordings from these gauges are forwarded to the Hydrographical Office in Liverpool to assist in the compilation of tide tables. The information gained from these records has also been used in investigations for the Plover Cove Water Supply Scheme and for other local purposes.

Three new jetties were completed at the eastern boundary of Kowloon Docks by the Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Co Ltd. They are of reinforced concrete construction, with sprung wood fenders. The jetties can accommodate vessels up to 500 feet in length, and provide a depth of water of 31 feet at zero tide. Cranes have not yet been installed, but it is intended to bridge the jetty heads and to instal travelling cranes, together with the usual electric power and welding supplies, and salt water fire mains.

The Materials Testing Laboratory, under the direction of the Port Works Office, made about 21,000 tests on building materials for both Government and private firms. This figure was 16% greater than that for the previous year and reflects the growing activity of the building industry and the general desire to attain a higher_standard of workmanship.

Land Development. There remain few areas which can be built on without a great deal of preliminary site formation. Besides the individual sites being formed both by Government and by private agencies, the continuing demand for new building land is being met by large scale site formation and reclamation schemes. Two new towns are being formed in this way; Kwun Tong in New Kowloon and Tsuen Wan (including Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi) in the New Territories. Work in Kwun Tong started in 1955 and is planned to be completed in 1968. So far, one-half of the planned area of 514 acres has been formed, including 150 acres of reclamation, and the average rate of production is about an acre a week. The population of the new town is 50,000 and 70 factories have been established. At Tsuen Wan, the second of the new towns, many sites are being formed by the grantees, and the present rate of production of new building land by Government is about half an acre a week. This rate will shortly rise sharply, as