ENG-1984 — Page 230

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

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land, the ex gratia compensation is paid in addition to the assessed statutory compensa- tion. The need for land for development continued to grow and, during 1984, about 1.5 million square metres of private land were acquired in the New Territories in order to carry out various public works projects, largely for new town development.

The compulsory acquisition of marine rights, usually required for reclamation projects or the grant of pier leases, is effected under the Public Reclamation and Works Ordinance or the Foreshores and Sea Bed Ordinance. These ordinances provide for lodging of objections to a scheme and for payment of compensation. Private rights over Crown foreshores or seabed affected as a result of road projects are dealt with under the Roads (Works, Use and Compensation) Ordinance.

During 1984, about $50 million was paid in compensation for land and buildings acquired, either under compulsory powers or by agreement, in the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon for various public projects. These included the widening of Shau Kei Wan Road, landslip preventive measures, the Home Ownership Scheme in Ngau Chi Wan, completion of Cha Kwo Ling Road, stage four of the West Kowloon Corridor and phase five of the Tai Hang Tung redevelopment scheme.

Development of New Towns and Rural Townships

By the 1970s, it was necessary to move beyond the range of hills north of Kowloon to the largely rural expanse of the New Territories for the creation of new centres of urbanisation. Since 1972, an ambitious programme of building new towns, one of the biggest of its kind in the world, has been taking place.

The New Territories Development Department (NTDD) was created in 1973 and charged with the responsibility of planning and building new towns. As works progressed needs have changed. Fresh ideas have emerged and unforeseen difficulties have had to be solved, requiring innovation. The new town programme has responded to the challenge. The objective of the 1972 housing programme was to house 1.8 million people, the majority of whom would be accommodated in three new towns and a number of rural townships. Since then the new town programme has been extended into the 1990s and the scope has been substantially increased with the present population design capacity of seven new towns and rural townships being well in excess of three million people.

To foster the growth of the new towns as carefully planned communities, the department was constituted on a multi-disciplinary basis and consists of professional officers with expertise in the fields of civil engineering, town planning, architecture and landscaping. Apart from construction, town planning and the co-ordination of works by the NTDD, major roles in the development of the new towns have been played by the Lands and Works group of departments and the Housing Department.

A number of other government departments are providing services which the City and New Territories Administration co-ordinates in its important work of community building. Moreover, there has been a heavy use of consultants by the NTDD and the private sector has played a vital role in development ranging from single buildings to comprehensive housing schemes.

The 1984 population in the New Territories, predominantly contained in the new towns and rural townships, exceeded 1.7 million. This represents almost half of the currently planned population. While there is much still to be done, major new town centre developments in Sha Tin, Tuen Mun and Tsuen Wan are in progress or about to start in the near future, and the next few years will see these new towns begin to mature rapidly, as will the other new towns in due course.