Department provided accommodation for about 113,000 persons; the actual amount of accommodation completed and handed over was somewhat lower than this because of the time-lag between completion of the building works and handing over the blocks for use as accom- modation. These included the first blocks of a new estate at Pak Tin, in the Shek Kip Mei area, which were occupied at the end of the year. At the end of the year, the number of domestic blocks managed by the department had risen to 477, of which 237 were of the improved Marks III-V designs (the different types of Mark are explained in Chapter 5).
19. The programme for the relief of overcrowding continued to make generally good progress although, as already noted, the majority of people moved to rooms which had been vacated in the older estates rather than to new rooms in the developing estates. Altogether some 38,000 people moved to other rooms during the year under this programme, compared with 42,000 in 1967-68. Associated with this programme is a scheme for converting rooms in the old estates into larger self-contained units. One block at Wong Tai Sin estate has been chosen for the pilot scheme and by the end of the year the first steps had been taken towards the conversion of this block.
20. Work was also begun on a programme for installing water taps in each room in the 170 Mark III and early Mark IV blocks (the later Mark IV and Mark V blocks already have them). By the end of March, work had been completed in 110 blocks in seven estates.
21. In recent years the trend in estate design has been towards separate buildings to house specialized activities instead of accommo- dating these activities within the domestic block itself. The Mark IV estates have separate school annexes, and in 1967-68 the first of the annexe or freestanding restaurant buildings was opened. In the year under review the first estate welfare building was completed which will house a variety of welfare services under one roof. Separate estate administration buildings are also being designed.
22. Despite occasional attempts at disruption by organized trouble makers, relations between the department and its tenants remained good on the whole. Much of the credit for this must go to the Kaifongs which exist on almost every estate, and to the Estate Division's Liaison Unit. Between them, and in conjunction with other government departments and voluntary organizations, they were responsible for numerous activities during the year ranging from the provision of reading rooms to a 'round the estates' race.
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