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Figure 3: Existing developments in Tai Po New Town Figure 4: Tai Po New Town in 2019

In 1974, the Government decided to establish the first industrial estate in Hong Kong at Tai Po.
Reclamation for the Tai Po Industrial Estate began in 1976. At the same time, work began on the
reclamation for the first public housing estate, Tai Yuen Estate adjacent to Ting Kok Road. A large
temporary housing estate was constructed in 1977 at Yue Kok to accommodate people displaced by
clearance for development in Tai Po District. Residents of the Yuen Chau Tsai squatter area near Island
House were its first occupants.

The status of Tai Po was upgraded to a New Town in January 1979. The first draft Tai Po Outline Zoning
Plan (OZP) No. LTP/47 was gazetted on 12 December 1980. By mid-1990, some 300 ha of land was
reclaimed from the sea for the development of a largely self-contained community in which a full range
of commercial, industrial and community facilities would be provided for about 300 000 people (Figures 3
and 4).

Planning Concept

Balanced development in terms of provision of community services, recreational facilities, and education
facilities has been a major objective in the development of Tai Po New Town. It is also an objective to
maintain the tranquility of the natural and village environment and for conservation of significant natural
areas in the rural part of the New Town. Minor improvement works are implemented to provide essential
infrastructural facilities to sustain the village type developments under the Local Public Works (LPW)
Programmes.

In planning the development of Tai Po New Town, suitable sites have been reserved for various types of
land uses including residential, commercial, industrial and open space, and for the provision of different
types of community and infrastructural facilities to meet the needs of the population.

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