ENG-1989 — Page 250

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

208

fully air-conditioned, enabling social activities attracting large numbers of people to be held throughout the year and providing improved conditions for users. Fourteen aided and two government schools affected by aircraft and traffic noise received noise abatement treatment at a cost of $26.5 million. This programme will continue in 1990, with a further $39.3 million allocated to 30 schools affected by traffic noise.

In recent years, the Antiquities Section of the Maintenance Branch of Architectural Services Department has become increasingly involved in advising on and restoring some of the historically-important buildings in Hong Kong. A total of $10 million was spent during the year on 33 different historic buildings ranging from the second century Han Dynasty Tomb at Lei Cheng Uk to the 1916 Kowloon-Canton Railway Clock Tower in Tsim Sha Tsui. Two major projects were completed, the first being the restoration of Tai Fu Tai near San Tin. This house was built in 1866 for a prosperous Imperial Government official named Man Chung-luen, and had fallen into total disrepair. It was gazetted as an Historic Monument in 1986. Another major project was the Chai Wan Folk Museum which opened to the public in October. Work involved the restoration of an 18th century Hakka farmhouse, Law Uk, and the construction of an adjacent museum block in similar style. The farmhouse, in traditional two-hall style with adjoining wings in grey Canton bricks with clay tile roofs, is considered to be the finest 18th century Chinese dwelling house remaining on Hong Kong Island.

Survey and Mapping

The Survey and Mapping Office is responsible for defining and recording land boundaries of all existing and new land developments, providing and maintaining the territory-wide survey control system, mapping the territory at various scales for land administration, engineering and government purposes, managing land information and preserving the territory's land records.

Geodetic control systems, which are horizontal and vertical control networks covering the whole territory, have been established and maintained to a high degree of accuracy. These systems provide the necessary origin and control points for cadastral (property boundary), topographical mapping, engineering and other surveys.

Cadastral surveying is an important function of the office. It serves both the public and the government by defining property boundaries. In the New Territories the work has been extended from the new towns to include, for example, village house lots, for which an increasing number of boundary surveys are being carried out. Other tasks include the re-establishment of private lot boundaries, on payment of a fee, for redevelopment purposes. The office maintains a comprehensive graphical record of all leasehold and government land boundaries in the territory. However, improvements to the land records are required, especially in areas first surveyed before World War II, and a Land Survey Ordinance is now being drafted to help address these problems.

The wide range of mapping coverage maintained by the office has always provided an important support service in the administration, planning and development of Hong Kong. The most definitive series of maps and the foundation of all other mapping is the large scale (1:1 000) basic topographical series (3 000 sheets). Smaller scale coverage starts at 1:5 000 (160 sheets) followed by coloured maps at scales 1:20 000 (16 sheets), 1:50 000 (two sheets), and down to single sheet coverage at 1:100 000 and 1:200 000. Two monochrome street map series at 1:10 000 and 1:15 000 of the urban areas in Hong Kong, Kowloon and parts of the New Territories are produced for special uses and as a base for the popular guide book Hong Kong Guide - Streets and Places. Demand for leisure maps, in the form of