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cost of
Dr. Henrietta Ip has expressed concern over the squatter control and questioned whether there are
cheaper methods of achieving the same result.
The figure of 184 million dollars indeed
represents 64% of the government funded activities of the Housing Department. But, to put this in proper perspective vis-a-vis all the activities of the Housing Authority, it amounts to 3% of the Authority's budget. Disregarding percentages 184 million dollars is still a very large amount of money, which could, of course, be better spent on the housing construction programme. But we must be careful not to reduce the effectiveness of our Squatter Control because the cost of housing additional squatters would far outway
any savings made by reducing squatter control staff.
The problem of control lies in the fact that
the nature of squatter settlements is such that modern methods
of surveillance either do not work or are more expensive
than our present methods. We have looked seriously into the possibility of using helicopters, aerial photographs or watchers with telescopes on high hilltops. But none of these can detect an extension built beneath an existing roof
structure or a carefully camouflaged change of material.
So I have come to the reluctant conclusion, to borrow a phrase from my previous incarnation, that there is no substitute for an infantryman on his own feet. The real question is how many men do we need? How should they
be organized and how could better communications help? We are currently exploring the use of fewer patrolmen equipped with personal radios able to call on a centrally-held reserve when they need help. But I would stress that daily patrols would still be essential if we are to maintain our
effectiveness.
/A major