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Thursday, November 19, 1970
"For, if we are to continue to progress, to provide the essentials
for an expanding population, to meet growing aspirations and to satisfy
the demands made by the changes and growth in our economy then we cannot
falter in our stride, we must go on providing accommodation for the people
who must be moved from the land needed for other purposes and to provide
a home for people who otherwise would be homeless.
"It is a sobering thought that the end is not in sight with the
completion of this block and with more than a million people resettled.
"This is a programme which has stirred people's imagination
throughout the countries of South East Asia and the world. Many of the se
countries have experienced the problem of squatters, people who by misfortune
or choice live in temporary huts around the edges of large towns in dangerous
and insanitary conditions.
"In a sense we had no choice. The fire on Christmas Day 1953 at
Shek Kip Mei which made 60,000 people homeless overnight brought home the
overwhelming need to provide safe and permanent accommodation for the
victims, and, if we were to free land for factories, homes, schools and
all the other needs of the community, then we could not do this by the
simple expedient of thrusting the people and their dwellings aside.
It was
an emergency, a crisis brought on by the vast increase in population when
all available accommodation was already bursting at the seams.
"Construction of resettlement blocks had to proceed rapidly, little
could be done to provide the amenities within the estates which it later
became possible to include.
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