HOUSING
projects in Lam Tin, Sau Mau Ping and Ko Chiu Road are progressing well, while infill site projects are being quickly developed to try to meet the demand for flats.
In Tin Shui Wai, two public housing estates and two HOS courts have been completed, providing 19 360 flats for 71 800 people. There are plans to build some 17 740 more flats for 59 160 people in the new town between 1997 and 2000. These will be in Harmony block designs.
In Tseung Kwan O new town, not far from Kwun Tong, 2714 flats were completed during the year, and a further 4 146 flats were being built.
In the longer term, the area currently known as Tiu Keng Leng will be cleared to form part of Tseung Kwan O new town, producing 51 hectares to provide homes for 86 000 persons, half of them in public housing estates.
The authority has agreed to undertake the site formation work in this area, including the necessary roads and infrastructure. Plans for the project have been completed and clearance work will start in 1995, with completion of the first housing blocks expected in the year 2000.
Phase I of the comprehensive redevelopment of Ma Hang Village, Stanley, on the south side of Hong Kong Island was recently completed. This redevelopment will eventually stretch to the Stanley shoreline to include a village square and the rebuilt Murray House. The completion of Phase I has enabled the villagers to move from their squatter huts within the valley to the new flats, built to the latest standards and in a quite exceptional environment, featuring distinctive architecture, landscape and colour schemes.
In Tung Chung on Lantau Island, work has started on the construction of public housing which will be part of the new town being built on the doorstep of Hong Kong's new airport, presently under construction at Chek Lap Kok. Up to 15 000 people will be accommodated in public housing in the area.
Maintenance Services
The extensive works on the maintenance and upkeep of the authority's property stocks range from minor repairs to major structural repairs, and improvement programmes covering building services installations and renovation.
Total maintenance expenditure for the year exceeded $2.25 billion. The stronger emphasis on services provided to tenants in the form of minor repairs was also reflected in the first stage of the authority's performance pledges announced in July 1993.
The CARE programme (Condition, Appraisal, Repair, Examination) continued as the framework for most maintenance-related activities. This cyclical programme will have included all the authority's estates by 1998. At the end of the year, 61 estates had been surveyed for repair works.
A programme for the comprehensive replacement of deteriorated water supply pipes, using non-ferrous pipe materials, was launched and will be integrated with the CARE programme to minimise disturbance to tenants.
The survey and repair of external mosaic tile facades continued. Improvement pro- grammes related to the heights of railings in certain estates were also implemented.
Good progress continued to be made on the structural strengthening and repair pro- gramme for older estates. Since the programme began in 1985, 139 blocks have been appraised and strengthened, and work continued on a further 60 blocks.
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