HOUSING AND LAND
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All phases have been heavily over-subscribed and it has proved necessary to hold ballots to determine successful applicants. Separate draws are held for the two categories of applicant, to provide an equal share of flats between the respective groups. The two lists are then combined into an overall priority list and each applicant is interviewed to verify eligibility. Eligible applicants can then choose, in order of priority, any flat remaining unsold and make a 10 per cent down-payment. Anyone found to have made a false statement is automatically disqualified and a small number of applicants have been prosecuted.
A further three home ownership projects are being built by private developers under the Private Sector Participation Scheme. As the name implies, the scheme is designed to give private sector interests the opportunity to contribute their expertise towards public housing projects. The basic specifications and unit prices for the flats are stipulated by the government and the developers tender for the land reserved for each project. The processing of applications and the screening of applicants are carried out by the Housing Department in the same way as for the Home Ownership Scheme. The flats in two of these developments were sold in late 1979 and those produced in the third were sold in late 1981. The Middle Income Housing Programme will be run on similar lines to the Private Sector Participation Scheme, although the flats will be slightly larger.
Urban Housing and Redevelopment
Private development and public housing estates occupy most of the developable land on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon, where population densities are among the highest in the world. However, every effort is being made to extract the optimum development potential from the less intensively developed sites, some of which are occupied by squatter huts and resettlement cottages built in the 1950s.
On Hong Kong Island, a former cottage area in the eastern district of Chai Wan is being developed to provide 1 991 flats at Hing Man Estate, while at Aberdeen homes for 2 270 families are under construction in a public housing estate on Ap Lei Chau, overlooking the fishing harbour.
In east Kowloon, a major public housing development at Shun Lee Tsuen progressed with the completion of 2 100 flats at Shun On Estate, which has a further 3 100 units under construction. Several rental and Home Ownership projects are also being undertaken in Ngau Tau Kok and Hammer Hill which will provide 7 470 flats.
Additional public housing development in urban areas has been made possible following the handover of two military bases. At the former RAF Kai Tak, homes for more than 1 000 families have been built and a further 3 850 flats are due for completion in the second phase, while the former army camp in Sham Shui Po has made way for 3 430 rental and Home Ownership flats at Lai Kok Estate. All remaining Phase I and II Home Ownership flats in urban areas were handed over to owners during the year.
Work also continued on a massive redevelopment programme aimed at improving the living conditions of about 340 000 people occupying 12 Mark I and II resettlement estates built as emergency housing between 1954 and 1964. The initial operation was the in-situ conversion of Block 25 at Lower Wong Tai Sin Estate in 1969 which was followed by the conversion of the Mark I and II blocks at Shek Kip Mei Estate. Since then, redevelopment work has progressed at a steady rate. So far, 22 Mark I and II blocks have been demolished and 25 blocks converted, resulting in the rehousing of more than a quarter of a million tenants – equivalent to more than 40 per cent of the population in Mark I and II estates in the early 70s. Under the current programme, a further 61 Mark I and II blocks containing