ENG-1971 — Page 275

RECREATION

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which was opened in July, and the 11-acre Kwun Tong swimming pool and recreation ground opened by HRH the Princess Anne in October. The Aberdeen sports ground mainly serves the rapidly increasing population of the Aberdeen area and to some extent part of the Western district of Hong Kong Island, where open space is very limited. Kwun Tong, in Kowloon, is another area developed beyond recognition in the past few years, and its swimming pool and recreation ground will be one of the main recreational outlets for the half a million people living in the district.

Other projects completed during the year were the Lei Cheng Uk swimming pool, King's Park sports ground (61⁄2 acres), Hoi Sum park (3.3 acres), Kai Tak East playground (34 acres), Cheung Sha Wan playground (4 acres), and Anchor Street playground (2 acres), all in Kowloon. There are many projects in the planning stage, perhaps the most impressive of which are the Kowloon Indoor Stadium which will hold 15,000 spectators and is to be built on top of a podium over the new railway terminus complex, and a large new football stadium in central Kowloon which will hold 35,000 people.

The Government also promotes sports by giving free land at nominal rents to sports clubs and making substantial loans to various sports associations. In addition financial assistance is given in the form of recurrent subventions to the Schools Sports Associa- tions and grants made towards the cost of Hong Kong's participation in overseas games such as the Olympic, Commonwealth and Asian Games. For the past three years the Government has met the full cost of the annual festival of sport and just over a year ago, removed the entertainment tax on sporting events.

The Urban Council, working through the Urban Services Depart- ment, builds and administers recreation facilities in the urban area. In the New Territories, this responsibility rests with the Director of Urban Services working closely with the District Commissioner. The Recreation and Amenities Division of the Urban Services Depart- ment now manages a total of 1,472 acres of public open space.

During the year, 215,849 trees, shrubs and seasonal flowers were planted in parks, playgrounds, along roadsides and in other public places. But in some cases these were extensively damaged during typhoon Rose, and older trees in particular suffered heavily.

In addition to its own planting programme, the Urban Council also encourages horticulture in Hong Kong by its annual flower show held each spring. This year it attracted more than 177,000 people.