ENG-1978 — Page 20

NEW TOWNS

3

Care is being exercised to ensure that at each stage the new towns are co-ordinated units, not only providing housing but other necessary amenities. To achieve integrated communities, a combination of government and private housing is being built to attract a spread of skilled, unskilled and professional income groups. The new towns are laid out as self-contained centres for convenient and agreeable living with special emphasis on landscaping to give streets, squares and river banks a pleasing appearance. There are sufficient sportsgrounds for the young and energetic, and open spaces for strolling under the trees or picnicking on the grass.

During their planning, much thought was given to the question of transport. The centres are being linked with other regions of the New Territories, Kowloon and Hong Kong Island by a modern road network on which much progress has already been made. Double-tracking and electrification is proceeding on the Kowloon-Canton Railway, which runs through Sha Tin, and the Tsuen Wan extension of the Mass Transit Railway will be operating by the end of 1982. Greater use of bicycles is being encouraged, with special paths both for recreation and going to work at the local factory or office.

The development of the new centres has varied according to each area's history and previous growth patterns. In building the new, it was essential that the most worth- while features of the old were preserved; consequently, these areas will not lose their traditional walled villages, peaceful temples and quiet pathways among wooded hills. The government also had to take into account the traditional requirements of fung shui - a type of geomancy with the literal meaning of 'wind' and 'water'. Fung shui has been used for thousands of years to determine the most advantageous location for a home or workplace, in relation to the surrounding topography. Features such as waterways, land form and vegetation are regarded as symbolic of the forces which affect the well-being, livelihood and good fortune of residents both in this life and in the afterlife.

In the early stages, the government considered not only the questions of altering land form and moving villages, but also the choice of sites and position of new housing blocks. The fung shui of a locality could not be disturbed unless the local spirits were appeased, often resulting in costly ceremonial rites as well as compensation for the residents. Where villages had burial grounds within their boundaries, much time was spent negotiating the transfer of graves and pots of ancestral bones.

Planning and Organisation

The planning and construction of the new towns is being carried out by the Public Works Department (PWD). To co-ordinate and supervise the many consulting engineers, private architects, PWD branches and other government departments employed on the various projects, the PWD set up a special New Territories Develop- ment Department (NTDD). The NTDD - headed by a director - consists mainly of senior professional officers who are charged with the overall planning, programming, supervision and implementation of the PWD effort.

Each of the three new towns has its own project manager who is responsible to the Director of the New Territories Development Department; the project manager's duty is to ensure that progress is maintained on all detailed planning and construction, so that the new town programme is kept on schedule. A works progress committee meets