ENG-1988 — Page 250

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LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

The GCO also published, during 1988, an engineering guide on Rock and Soil Descriptions, seven regional Geotechnical Area Study Reports and the 1:20 000 geological map and explanatory memoir covering the north-western New Territories,

Construction Materials

During 1988, Hong Kong's construction industry consumed almost 19 million tonnes of aggregates, crushed rock fines and sand, of which about 35 per cent was imported from China. The bulk of internal production comes from five contract quarries, supervised by the GCO.

Following on from a geological survey of the marine areas, the GCO is now investigating the seabed to locate major deposits of sand and gravel suitable for use as filling material for land reclamation, and for aggregates. Potential sources of fill of about 100 million cubic metres in volume have already been located.

During the year, some 300 000 tests were performed on construction material at Government's Public Works Laboratories operated by the GCO. The materials tested ranged from soil and rock to reinforcing steel, concrete, timber, aggregates and bituminous products. An important step forward during the year was the accreditation of the Public Works Laboratories under the Hong Kong Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (HOKLAS) for tests on concrete and concrete reinforcing steel.

Flood Control

In recent years, there has been much private development in the low-lying areas of the New Territories where frequent flooding due to heavy rains was previously of minor conse- quence. The increased significance of flooding has become a matter of public concern, and in response a Flood Control Unit was set up in the Civil Engineering Services Department in November 1987. The aim of the unit is to co-ordinate government departments' efforts to prevent flooding in the territory. In the past year, the unit identified over 130 flood-prone blackspots and organised the government's efforts to provide short term measures to alle- viate the situation. A major review was undertaken on the role of government in land drain- age and flood control. Consultants were appointed to undertake a territorial land drainage and flood control strategy study which will examine, among other things, various engineer- ing and legislative options to minimise losses through flooding to an acceptable level.

In parallel with this the Territory Development Department has commissioned a study to examine and recommend measures to protect the flood-prone villages in the north-western New Territories. About 200 villages are being examined and out of these 130 are expected to require some form of flood protection, either taken individually or in groups, in the next few years.

Electricity

Electricity supply is currently provided by two commercial companies the Hongkong Electric Company Limited (HEC), which supplies Hong Kong Island and the neighbouring islands of Ap Lei Chau and Lamma, and China Light and Power Company Limited (CLP), which supplies the whole of Kowloon and the New Territories, including Lantau and a number of outlying islands.

The two supply companies are investor-owned and do not operate on a franchise basis. The government monitors the financial arrangements of the companies through schemes of control. The schemes require each company to submit to the government for approval a Financial Plan setting out the financial consequences over a period of at least five years

of the companies' planned activities, including the forecast tariff levels.