HOUSING
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improvements. The authority was able to offset this deficit from the income derived from its commercial properties which, in the same period, generated $1,337.9 million against an expenditure of $691.1 million. Any surplus funds left are used to help finance the public housing construction programmes.
The authority spent $3,740.8 million on its capital programmes, of which $2,193.3 million (58.6 per cent) was financed by the authority, while the balance of $1,547.5 million (41.4 per cent) was funded by the government through loans on concessionary terms. In addition, the authority, acting as the government's agent, spent $703.6 million on the construction of flats for sale under the Home Ownership Scheme.
Construction
The Housing Authority produced 41 000 flats in 1988, comprising rental, Home Ownership Scheme and Private Sector Participation Scheme units - an all time high.
This exceptional output was partly due to additional units required this year to satisfy the demand arising from the redevelopment of the old estates, and partly due to the roll-over from last year, when most contractors experienced difficulty in meeting contract dates due to labour shortages. Overall, the authority is committed to producing 230 000 flats in the five-year development period from 1985 to 1990. This housing stock will comprise 160 000 public rental flats, 64 000 Home Ownership and Private Sector Participation Scheme flats and 6 000 flats earmarked for possible transfer from rental housing to Home Ownership Scheme. This is in line with the government's Long Term Housing Strategy, which also envisages the production of a further 215 000 flats and 135 000 flats in the second and third five-year development periods, respectively, taking production up to the year 2001. The scale and type of production will be reviewed periodically in response to actual demand.
Twenty-seven building contracts, with a total value of $4,600 million, were let in 1988 and nearly all of these contracts have specified the use of large panel formwork construc- tion systems. Since its introduction in 1987, this programme has been expanded rapidly and its use has succeeded in upgrading the quality of workmanship while also being widely accepted by contractors. It also helps to encourage more mechanisation and gradually to relieve the industry from its current labour-intensive operations. To further this aim, the authority has this year developed three new residential block designs which, with a greater degree of standardisation, will facilitate the growing use of large panel formwork construc- tion systems.
The new designs are also intended to meet the demand from households affected by the redevelopment of old estates and will also allow greater flexibility of planning and allocation. The first units from this initiative will be completed in 1991. The Computer Aided Drafting and Design System (CADD), which the authority acquired two years ago, has proven to be a very versatile tool in developing these new designs. The Central Project Monitoring System (CPMS), which operates on the same computer mainframe as the CADD, has been refined to further streamline the monitoring of production and pro- gramme data for all construction projects.
Urban Housing
On Hong Kong Island, work is continuing on the very large site-formation at Shau Kei Wan East, with Stage I being due for completion in late 1990 and Stage II about one year later. When completed, this site, together with the adjacent one at Shau Kei Wan West, will provide a total of 10 370 rental flats. Kellett Bay (Wah Kwai Estate) Phase I is now under construction and the site formation for Phase II is almost completed, with commencement