ENG-1963 — Page 57

REVIEW

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Although some 25 square miles is said to be urbanized, in fact 80 per cent of the population at census date in March 1961 lived in an area of rather more than half of this. Of this 8,000 acres, more than half was used for residential purposes and one-tenth for industry. In the last 10 years the demand for building land has continued unabated and in the Urban Area alone some 98 acres have been sold or granted for residential/commercial purposes and 171 acres for industrial use. During the same period land grants for Government-aided housing totalled 790 acres and for schools, clinics and welfare establishments 170 acres-132 acres of this was for schools. In the New Territories during this period 372 acres have been granted for industrial use, 326 acres for residential/ commercial use including village land, 723 acres for institutional purposes and 175 acres for agriculture. The institutional grants include two islands set aside as medical rehabilitation centres. More and more agricultural land is being exchanged for building land in the New Territories and during the last five years 271 acres of building land have been regranted for 350 acres of agricultural land and 39 acres of old building land which have been surrendered.

Generally speaking the Government has resisted pressure to sell land restricted to special types of industry, but a few industries do exist which require particular facilities and for which special arrangements have been made in recent years. In order that the port of Hong Kong may function efficiently, ship and boat repair- ing yards must be available in, the harbour area; land restricted to this use was therefore sold at Cheung Sha Wan and Yau Tong and North Tsing Yi. Similarly the sawmill and timber industry needs water frontage land and large water storage areas. Floating storage has therefore been set aside at north-east Lantau and Junk Bay, and sites sold for sawmills at Castle Peak, Yau Tong and Tsuen Wan. It has also been the practice since the war to restrict the sale of land fronting the harbour to purposes requiring such a frontage.

Shortage of land has resulted in the adoption of many interesting devices to conserve supply. For example, the tops of service reservoirs double as playgrounds; small industries are accom- modated in multi-storey factory buildings; and roofs of schools