ENG-1975 — Page 24

A PERSONAL VIEW

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and West Germany in offering homes to others. Already, Hong Kong had approved applications by more than 110 to remain here.

International authorities praised Hong Kong's skilful and sympathetic handling of the tragic problem which added another burden to the territory's already strained financial situation in 1975.

During the six months that the refugees were in Hong Kong, while arrangements were being made for them to be accepted by other countries, their stay cost the Hong Kong Government more than $3.5 million. The affair was an effective counter to the opinion, so often held abroad, that Hong Kong is essentially a selfish, money-grubbing, brutally self-centred society.

Mass Transit Railway

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Undoubtedly the most important venture in Hong Kong in 1975 was the begin- ning of work on the long-delayed mass transit underground railway, which was first mentioned in a government paper 11 years ago.

The project has its critics—and plausible but short-sighted their arguments can be. The initial MTR will be 15 kilometres long with 12 underground and three over- head stations. It will run through another harbour tunnel, linking Hong Kong Island with Kowloon mainland, and pass beneath one of the world's most densely populated

areas.

It will be the most heavily used underground railway in the world, to quote Norman Thompson, Chairman of the MTR Corporation, and it will carry up to 60,000 people in each direction in an hour, or one million passengers a day. Compara- tive figures for London are 20,000 passengers per hour. Trains during the busier periods will run every two minutes and there will, therefore, be virtually no waiting. The $5,000 million venture is the largest ever undertaken in Hong Kong.

The railway is being financed by a combination of export credit facilities and loans from local and international banks which demonstrates their confidence in its future. The government is convinced that the crowded tube will not be a burden on the economy, which is committed only to the expenditure of $800 million of equity, voted by the Legislative Council. The loans, the authorities are satisfied, will be repaid by the fares and other revenue which the railway will generate.

Critics are assured that no comparison exists between the Hong Kong project and money-losing counterparts like the San Francisco BART system or the Washing- ton system-begun in 1968 but not yet completed because of strikes and material shortages.

The Hong Kong MTR will be completed in the spring of 1980. German, French, Swedish and Japanese builders are co-operating with local contractors in its construc- tion. The MTR Corporation will also develop commercially all surface space that is available above main terminals in teeming business areas. One of these subsidiary undertakings is a $500 million satellite town, with 5,000 medium-size flats for approximately 25,000 people, and with shops, restaurants and department stores, which will be built on a 25-acre podium above one of the Kowloon Bay terminals.