ENG-1974 — Page 138

LAND AND HOUSING

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of the existing development is being planned to provide housing for 114,000 people in a 450-acre area together with 47 acres for industrial development. Another area now being developed is Tsing Yi Island which is connected to the mainland by a bridge opened by the Governor on February 28, 1974. Tsing Yi Island's population is expected to grow from its present 4,000 to 158,000, and the island forms an integral part of the new town. But, it will have all the facilities required to make it a self- contained community while also providing a number of sites suitable for heavy in- dustry needing sea access.

At Tuen Mun New Town, on the west side of the New Territories, the bulk of the engineering work for Stage IA development was completed, providing a total land area of 230 acres and a population capacity of 55,000. The first public housing estate, Sun Fat Estate, has been completed, providing homes for 11,000 people. Work has also started on the second estate, Tai Hing Estate Phase I, to provide homes for another 29,000. Most of the 52 acres of industrial land produced in Stage IA has already been sold and is at various stages of development by private industrialists. The new town is planned to cover 2,740 acres with a target population of 467,800.

At Sha Tin New Town, to the north of Kowloon peninsula, 150 acres will ac- commodate a population of 54,000. The construction of the first public housing estate, known as Lek Yuen San Tsuen, is well advanced. This, when completed, will provide accommodation for 23,000. Construction of the Wo Che public housing estate to accommodate a further 20,000 began in November 1974. The next stage of develop- ment is being planned to provide a further 890 acres which will produce a balanced township of 227,000 by 1983. The new town, when completed, will accommodate a population of 495,000 in an area of some 4,450 acres.

Concurrently with the development of the three major new towns, plans for the market towns of Tai Po, Fanling, Shek Wu Hui, Yuen Long and Sham Tseng are being formulated for their development with an ultimate target population of 290,000. In the rural parts of the New Territories, developments of smaller communities related to public housing estates are planned for the islands of Cheung Chau and Peng Chau, at Tai O and Mui Wo on Lantau Island, and at Lau Fau Shan, Tan Kwai Tsuen, and Sai Kung. It is estimated that up to 300,000 people in the rural New Territories will require some form of housing assistance within the long-term housing programme.

Private Building

In 1973 the statutory period for processing plans submitted to the Building Authority was extended to 60 days, to enable consultants to assist in checking struc- tural submissions and to allow a system of curtailed checking to be adopted in the Buildings Ordinance Office. This proved sufficient to allow the backlog of overdue plans to be dealt with, and as a result new submissions in 1974 were processed, with few exceptions, within the new statutory time limit. Having achieved this position, the Buildings Ordinance Office was studying ways of how best to increase the emphasis on inspections of works in progress and reverting to a more detailed examination of plans.