ENG-1976 — Page 208

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COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT

At the Hung Hom terminus, construction work began in November on the new $43-million international mail centre. Work was completed earlier in the year on the centre's loading bay, railway platform and store. The construction of a marshalling yard at Lo Wu was begun, and goods trains arriving from China will be marshalled at the new yard in 1977. Work was also started on a goods siding at Fo Tan for unloading dry goods and oil from China. It was in 1974 that China began exporting oil to Hong Kong and since then the volume of oil consignments-as well as other commodities—has increased steadily. The railway handles the bulk of all goods and livestock imported from China by land.

In the programme to expand and modernise the railway, plans are in preparation to replace Mong Kok and Sha Tin stations with larger modern stations and to build a loop line to the new racecourse which is being built at Sha Tin. Other projects now being studied include electrification of the line; the building of an interchange station with the mass transit railway system at Kowloon Tong; provision of a line to the Kwai Chung container terminal to convey goods arriving from China to the terminal for re-export; and the provision of lines to Tuen Mun and the industrial estate now being constructed at Tai Po.

Civil Aviation

At Hong Kong International Airport at Kai Tak, 1976 saw the completion of the new air cargo handling complex-one of the largest of its kind in the world. It is capable of handling 500 000 tonnes of freight a year.

-The new complex was officially opened in May. It centralises the handling of all air freight entering or leaving Hong Kong and enables cargo forwarders and handlers to collect or despatch cargo through various airlines and to complete the necessary documents at one central point. The main building has a total floor area of 38 090 square metres. It has been specially designed and equipped to handle cargo for freigh- ter aircraft and passenger-freight aircraft with an efficiency to meet steadily growing demands. The Civil Aviation Department has forecast that the volume of air cargo handled will increase by an average of 15 per cent a year up to 1980.

In 1975-6, some 25 per cent of Hong Kong's domestic exports and 30 per cent of re-exports-in terms of value-were carried by air. This amounted to $8,500 million-worth of goods.

The new complex is operated by Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminal Limited (HACTL), which is a consortium comprising several major local firms and the Hong Kong Government. To facilitate the work of cargo-handling agents and airlines, the government has built a six-storey office block adjacent to the HACTL complex for renting as freight offices.

Another major development at the airport was the commissioning in November of the secondary surveillance radar (SSR)—a computerised radar system which con- tributes to the efficiency of aircraft operations. The new equipment provides air traffic control staff with continuous information on aircraft identity, position and height in all weather conditions within a range of 250 miles. It minimises the use of radio tele- phone between air traffic controllers and pilots for exchange of data, since this is now