DYKES are to be built around flood-prone villages in the New Territories under a $409 million government project.
Nine villages on the Yuen Long plain, where most of the district's rivers converge before flowing into Deep Bay, have been identified for the 'ring-dyke' project.
By the end of 2003, villagers' homes will be enclosed by embankments up to three-metres high.
Anti-flooding projects were given priority in the New Territories two years ago, when a record deluge destroyed one-third of Hong Kong's agricultural land.
The Drainage Services Department yesterday assured the villagers the dykes would provide adequate protection from 'the 200-year flood level'.
Rain water inside the walled area will be piped into a flood storage pond before being pumped to a station on the embankment and out into drainage channels.
Government senior engineer (drainage projects) Chan Pak-keung said the idea of building ring dykes was initiated in the 1980s.