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The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (), commonly known as Towngas, is the sole provider of towngas in Hong Kong. Founded in 1862, it is one of the oldest listed companies in the territory. It is the leading public utility in Hong Kong, and supplies towngas to 85% Hong Kong households, and also to commercial and industrial customers. It has over 200 projects in mainland China including city-gas, water supply, emerging environmentally-friendly energy and telecommunications. It also engages in property development projects, namely International Finance Centre (15% share), Grand Promenade (50% share) and Grand Waterfront, in Hong Kong with its largest shareholder. According to official documents, Henderson Land Development Co. Ltd (HLD) is the company's largest shareholder, owning 41.51% of the issued shares of the company as at 31 December 2014. Lee Shau Kee, chairman of HLD, is also the chairman of the company. ==History== In February 1862, the concession to supply gas to the city of Victoria (the centre of which now referred to as Central), was obtained from then governor Sir Hercules Robinson by William Glen, a newcomer to the gas industry.〔 p. 221〕 Incorporation took place on 3 June 1862 and by 3 December 1864 that year there were of pipes and 500 gas lamps along Queen's Road and Upper Valley Road. In Kowloon, residents continued to rely on candles and oil lamps until gas was laid on 28 years later. The company's original generating plant, the first in Asia, stood on the waterfront at West Point near Whitty Street and provided gas for lighting to government offices and army barracks as well as Jardine's offices, the The Hong Kong Dispensary and the Hong Kong Hotel. The plant was coal fired and produced of gas per day. It was run directly from Britain until 1954 when a majority shareholding was purchased by local firm Wheelock and Marden Company Limited who moved the company's registered domicile from the UK to Hong Kong. As of 2011, the only surviving four gas lamps installed by the company are situated at the top and bottom of a flight of broad granite steps linking Ice House Street and Duddell Street. These are still maintained by Towngas, while the site is one of the Declared monuments of Hong Kong. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Hong Kong and China Gas Company」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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