ENG-1982 — Page 222

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曲程な

雪花

I

Public Works and Utilities

THE government's largest single item of expenditure is normally that for public works, covering as it does the formation and reclamation of land; port and airport works; roads, sewers, bridges and tunnels; the supply and distribution of water; and the construction of public buildings.

For the financial year 1982–3, approved provision of funds for capital works was $6,700 million, some 19 per cent of the government's total expenditure. Of this sum, $1,360 million was to be spent on roads, $685 million on water supplies, and $65 million on public housing constructed by the public works group of departments in addition to that built by the Housing Authority.

As a result of a major restructuring of the government's machinery for dealing with land development, land administration and transport, the Public Works Department was formally abolished on April 1, 1982. The restructuring involved the creation of a Lands and Works Branch, a new Lands Department and the upgrading of the Building Development, Engineering Development, New Territories Development and Water Supplies departments into fully autonomous departments. On August 1, 1982, a sixth department was created when the Electrical and Mechanical Office of the Engineering Development Department was upgraded to an autonomous department and is now known as the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department.

The Lands and Works Branch, which is headed by a secretary, has the policy responsi- bility for all lands and works functions. In addition to its policy responsibility, the branch is also responsible for monitoring the performance of the six independent departments and the Urban Area Development Organisation.

The Urban Area Development Organisation, established to co-ordinate and monitor works both public and private in the urban area, and to relate them to the needs of the District Administration Scheme, advanced towards this goal by taking over the urban district planning functions from the Lands Department. It continued with the co-ordination of clearance programmes for the urban area to ensure their implementation is in proper sequence and on schedules compatible with housing and financial resources.

The Lands and Works Branch operates through three divisions, covering lands, works and administration. The Lands Division is responsible for the formulation of policies relating to the planning, supply and use of land to meet the needs of the government and the private sector and for the preparation of a territorial development strategy. The Works Division is responsible for the comprehensive planning and co-ordination of the physical development of the territory, planning and provision and efficient use of resources, both financial and manpower, and monitoring their use in capital works and maintenance programmes. The Administration Division is responsible for branch administration and the provision of certain services common to the 'works' departments.