ENG-1976 — Page 196

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Public Works and Utilities

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EXPENDITURE on public works is invariably the government's greatest single financial commitment. It covers the formation and reclamation of land and the construction of all types of public buildings, as well as the provision of roads, sewers, piers and reservoirs.

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Approved public works expenditure for the financial year 1976-7 was $1,602 million-nearly a quarter of total government expenditure. Of this sum, $405 million is being spent on roads, $267 million on water supplies, and $170 million on public housing-in addition to expenditure by the Housing Authority.

Buildings

In public housing and allied projects, the Public Works Department completed 27 housing blocks in 1976 on behalf of the Housing Authority. Also completed in housing estates were four welfare halls, 10 primary schools, six kindergartens, three large commercial and communal complexes, and two markets.

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At the end of the year work was in progress on 17 domestic blocks which, when completed, will provide 79,532 individual units of accommodation. Under construc- tion at four public housing estates were nine schools comprising 216 classrooms, seven kindergartens, three welfare halls and four large commercial and communal complexes. In addition, planning or preparation work was in progress on the second phase of the Tai Hing housing estate at Tuen Mun new town, the remaining conver- sion and redevelopment of the Shek Kip Mei estate, and the second stage of a project to rehouse fishermen displaced by the High Island Water Scheme. When completed these projects will provide accommodation for a further 46,088 people.

During the year, expenditure on public housing and associated building work amounted to $173 million, and on all other building projects to $239 million.

Major projects completed on Hong Kong Island included the new General Post Office, a new Council Chamber and offices for the Urban Council, a central command and control centre for the Royal Hong Kong Police, and a cell block and refractory unit at Stanley Prison.

In Kowloon, modifications and new building works were carried out at the international airport at Kai Tak and among many projects completed were: the second stage of the multi-storey car park at Yau Ma Tei; the first stage of Kowloon East polyclinic; alterations to the casualty department and the custodial ward at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the conversion of a ward into a midwifery training school; the second stage of Kowloon District Police Headquarters; the loading bay,