ENG-1986 — Page 217

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LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

Tuen Mun in the New Territories. Design work was also being carried out for extending flushing supply to Wan Chai and Aberdeen and improving the systems in Kwun Tong and Ho Man Tin.

Several mechanical and electrical installations for treatment works, pumping stations and service reservoirs were commissioned during the year. These included additional pumpsets at Muk Wu, additional treatment plant and pumping equipment at Tuen Mun as well as new pumping plant at Tsing Yi Island, Tsuen Wan West, Au Tau, Shum Wan Shan and Hong Kong Island Eastern Area. The first stage of the work to provide water supplies to high level villages in the New Territories was substantially completed with five pumphouses commissioned. The second stage, which includes a further 18 pumphouses, was in progress.

New consumer enquiry centres were opened in Kwun Tong and Stanley, joining the existing centres in Causeway Bay, Mong Kok, Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin, Tai Po and Sai Kung. The network continued to prove successful and plans are in hand to extend it throughout the territory.

Planning was in hand to implement the regionalisation of the operational functions of the Water Supplies Department. The first region was set up, initially covering the activities of both Hong Kong Island and the outlying islands.

Electricity

Hong Kong Island and the neighbouring islands of Ap Lei Chau and Lamma are supplied with electricity from the Hongkong Electric Company Limited (HEC), and Kowloon and the New Territories, including Lantau and a number of outlying islands, receive electricity from the China Light and Power Company Limited (CLP).

The two supply companies are investor-owned and do not operate under franchise. The government monitors the financial arrangements of the companies through schemes of control. The schemes require the long-term financing plans of the companies and any proposed tariff changes to be submitted to the Governor in Council for approval.

Arrangements for monitoring the operations of the power companies were reviewed by an American firm of consultants in 1984, with resultant recommendations for strengthening the monitoring process. The consultancy report was published in March 1985, and a special working party responsible to the Secretary for Economic Services has been set up to develop the recommendations put forward by the consultants. The working party will submit its findings to the Executive Council in the first quarter of 1987.

Generation of electricity in Kowloon and the New Territories is carried out by CLP and three affiliated electricity generating companies - Peninsula Electric Power Company Limited (PEPCO), Kowloon Electricity Supply Company Limited (KESCO) and Castle Peak Power Limited (CAPSO). The combined capacity of the four companies at the end of 1986 was 4 361 MW. ESSO owns 60 per cent and CLP owns 40 per cent of the three affiliated companies.

Operation of the power companies owned by the affiliated electricity generating companies is in the hands of CLP, which also has its own 20 MW gas turbine at Hok Un 'B'. PEPCO owns the three generating plants: at Tsing Yi ‘A' (720 MW), Tsing Yi ‘B’(800 MW) and Hok Un ‘C' (240 MW). KESCO owns 504 MW of gas turbine capacity, together with the Castle Peak 'A' Station consisting of four 350 MW coal-fired or oil-fired dual fuel units. Adjacent to the Castle Peak 'A' Station is the Castle Peak 'B' Station, owned by CAPCO. This station, scheduled for completion in 1990, will provide four 677 MW dual fuel (coal or oil-fired) units. The first unit was commissioned in early 1986, and the second