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This page first appeared 20 October 1995.


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HotWired - World Beat: Planet Wired

When activity on the airport project reaches its peak in mid-1996, Chek Lap Kok will support a resident population of 20,000 workers, and an additional commuter workforce of 8,000. A series of temporary villages are being built to accommodate them.

Although a Spartan architecture and regimented layout gives the villages the appearance of a penal colony (an impression amplified by occasional mistranslations into "labor camps"), these modern facilities are endowed with a full complement of urban amenities - theaters, dormitories, clinics, fire and police stations, post offices, and banks. Convenience stores, video arcades, sports facilities, and a branch of the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club are also planned. When operating at maximum capacity next year, Chek Lap Kok's canteens will serve 55,000 meals and dish out 12 tons of steamed rice each day.

The worker communities are officially "cash-free," as all transactions use digital "swipe cards." As in any predominantly male transient community, local prostitution found a booming trade here. How the oldest profession penetrated the island's tight security is anyone's guess, but the Provisional Airport Authority claims that the "problem" has been eliminated.

Presumably, those transactions aren't conducted with swipe cards.


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