ENG-1987 — Page 223

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

Junk Bay and Sai Kung

181

Part of the first phase of the public housing estates in Junk Bay New Town, namely, Po Lam and Tsui Lam Estates, has been completed and construction of a number of other estates is in progress.

The planned population for Junk Bay Phase I is 223 000. Work is in hand to revise the Outline Development Plan to include Junk Bay Phase II for a total population of 325 000. Junk Bay New Town will be served by a centrally-located and easily accessible major commercial complex which will include open space, community facilities and a transport interchange. The principal external access linking Junk Bay with east Kowloon will be the twin-tubed Junk Bay Road Tunnel now under construction and scheduled for commission- ing in 1990. In the meantime, Po Lam Road has been widened and improved and with its continuation into Sau Mau Ping Road provides an external road link to east Kowloon.

During the year, about 25 hectares of land including 17 hectares on reclamation were formed with excavated material from borrow areas and imported fill mostly coming from site formation works for the Lam Tin Estate.

The possible future extension of the Mass Transit Railway from Kwun Tong to Junk Bay, which is provided for in the Outline Development Plan, is being studied.

Outside the new town, plans for Sai Kung District have given priority to recreational development and to discouraging urban sprawl outside selected development areas. Sai Kung Town and its immediate hinterland is the main selected development area in the district with a design population of around 40 000.

At Sai Kung Town, minor roads and reclamation works have been completed and the construction of a sewage treatment plant is well advanced. The sewerage system serving Sai Kung and nearby villages will be connected to the treatment works when it becomes operational in 1988.

=

Islands District

In recent years, the outlying islands have taken on an increasingly important role in catering for the recreational needs of the people of Hong Kong. As part of the Islands District development programme, projects continued during the year to provide for existing and future growth in population, to upgrade living standards, and to improve general facilities for the increasing number of visitors to the islands. Although development remains generally low-rise and rural in character, the programme of works is comprehen- sive and diverse, concentrating mainly on the population centres of Mui Wo and Tai O on Lantau, and on Cheung Chau and Peng Chau. Reclamation works in Peng Chau during the year included the formation of about 0.3 hectare of land.

Construction of a new rural public housing estate at Mui Wo for about 2 000 people will be completed in early 1988. This will add to the existing rural public housing estates at Tai O and Cheung Chau. Planning for the development of more rural public housing estates in the rural district centres is underway. More facilities have been programmed for develop- ment throughout the district, including ferry piers, schools, market buildings, recreational facilities, sewage treatment plants and abattoirs.

New Urban Development Areas

Five potential development areas at Aldrich Bay, Hung Hom Bay, west Kowloon, Central and Wan Chai and Green Island, all of which require reclamations in Victoria harbour, have been identified to meet forecast development needs and provide for further growth in the 1990s. Work continued throughout the year on the planning and engineering feasibility