ENG-1983 — Page 190

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

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Training School continued to provide training for land surveying and cartographic technicians. In addition, 10 officers were undergoing post-graduate training in Hong Kong and 17 were on government training scholarships overseas.

Public Building

Public building activity maintained momentum throughout 1983. Capital expenditure on government building projects through the Building Development Department in the financial year 1982-3 rose by 62 per cent above the previous year. Tendering remained extremely competitive with prices decreasing for the second year, by 19.5 per cent, compared with a drop of six per cent for the corresponding period of 1981--2. The decrease is in part due to a general stabilising of construction costs. During the 12 months to June 1983, labour costs increased only marginally, by three per cent, while basic material costs decreased by two per cent.

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One of the most notable projects completed by the Building Development Department during the year was the Hong Kong Coliseum. This 12 500-seat multi-purpose indoor stadium, one of Asia's largest, was funded by the government at a cost of $130 million. It provides a venue for international professional sporting events and mass spectacles such as parades, concerts, ballet performances, circuses and ice-skating. The ultra-modern design incorporates features that are unique to Hong Kong, the most spectacular being a television projection system above the centre of the arena enabling spectators to watch a larger-than-life telecast of events taking place.

Two other major community projects, the Sha Tin Cultural Complex and library and the Tuen Mun Civic and Cultural Complex, were well under way at the end of the year and should be completed in 1986. Both feature a 1 450-seat auditorium with a large stage, side stages and orchestra pit to suit large-scale orchestral, operatic, dance and theatrical performances.

Recreation facilities have taken on more prominence in recent years and further progress was made during 1983. In March, the transformation of the recreation ground at Ko Shan Road from an old quarry site into a highly developed urban park containing a 3 000-seat open air theatre, a mini-soccer pitch, four tennis courts, a children's playground and a rest garden was completed. The Wan Chai Reclamation Recreation Centre was being extended by the addition of a 50-metre swimming pool for life saving and training, scheduled for completion in September 1984.

To meet the changing needs of the urban areas, out-dated markets are being replaced with new market complexes which incorporate community and recreation space as well as modern market facilities. Following the completion of the first such multi-storey complex in Aberdeen the previous year, a second and even larger complex to serve Central and Western Districts was under construction on the site of the former Western Market during the year and is scheduled for completion in 1986.

In an attempt to end, to some extent, its dependency on leased office accommodation, the government is constructing purpose-built offices in Central District and on the Wan Chai reclamation area. The tallest building ever undertaken by the government was well under way in Queensway during the year and is scheduled for completion is 1986. The building comprises one seven-storey and one 49-storey tower above a four-level carpark podium. The two blocks will be inter-connected by escalators with a pedestrian walkway linking the future Supreme Court. In the Wan Chai development, a proposed government complex overlooking Victoria Harbour will consist of two 49-storey office towers, a 30-storey District Court and Magistracy, a 19-storey science building for government