ENG-2005 — Page 274

228 Land, Public Works and Utilities

Following the judgment on harbour reclamation handed down by the Court of Final Appeal in January 2004, a comprehensive planning and engineering review of the Kai Tak development is required to ensure compliance with the legal requirements. The review is divided into two major parts, the planning review and the engineering review. The Planning Department commissioned the Kai Tak Planning Review in July 2004 with the purpose of formulating a new development concept and Preliminary Outline Development plan for Kai Tak. The engineering review and the statutory planning procedure to amend the approved Kai Tak Outline Concept Plans will proceed after the planning review.

A comprehensive public participation programme has been devised in the Kai Tak Planning Review to foster public consensus through an open and informed process. This includes three stages of public participation to engage the public in the redevelopment of the Kai Tak site, the Outline Concept Plans and the Preliminary Outline Development Plan.

Stage 1, on the community's vision for Kai Tak, took place from mid-September to mid-November 2004. Extensive public participation activities were arranged. Based on the views received in Stage 1, three Outline Concept Plans were prepared, each with a different emphasis on land use in order to provide a variety of development scenarios for discussion in the community. The two-month Stage 2 on the Outline Concept Plans was launched in November. Comments received during this stage will be considered during the preparation of the Preliminary Outline Development Plan which members of the public will be invited to discuss in Stage 3.

Another Kowloon scheme, the Choi Wan Road and Jordan Valley development project will form a 20-hectare site in Kwun Tong for the provision of public rental housing for 35 000 people, seven schools and open space. The infrastructure will be completed in stages from 2008 to 2010 to tie in with the housing/school development programme.

New Towns

The development of new towns in the New Territories continued in 2005. Railway development has added convenient mass transit connections between the new towns and the urban areas. The new town of Tseung Kwan O has been served by the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Tseung Kwan O line since August 2002. The Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) West Rail, which opened in December 2003, links the new towns of Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long, Tin Shui Wai and Tuen Mun with West Kowloon. The Ma On Shan Rail, which connects Wu Kai Sha in Ma On Shan with Tai Wai in Sha Tin and has a total length of about 11.4 kilometres, was opened in December 2004.

Engineering design and construction work on

construction work on land formation and the infrastructure for developments are

are overseen and coordinated by the Civil Engineering and Development Department.