ratio of 1 classroom to 2,700 people. Premises in older estates are also provided with kindergartens, but the overall provision is below this ratio.
58. Premises for welfare services are made available to the Social Welfare Department, or to voluntary agencies recommended by the Social Welfare Department, at a nominal rent of $1 a month. In the newer estates, 6-storey welfare buildings are built for basic welfare services at a ratio of one building to every 50,000 residents, and six such buildings are now in operation. Some ground floor accommoda- tion in newer estates is also allocated for welfare services as the need arises.
59. Apart from clinics run by voluntary agencies in ground floor premises of domestic blocks and in the welfare buildings, a Low Cost Medical Care Scheme has been in operation since September 1967. Under this scheme ground floor premises are allocated to members of the Low Cost Clinic Association of Registered Doctors at an economic rent. There are a total of 50 low cost clinics in the estates.
CONVERSION/REDEVELOPMENT OF SHEK KIP MEI
60. One of the most ambitious projects begun during the year was the Shek Kip Mei Rehousing Scheme involving the removal, by five phases, of 62,000 domestic tenants, 520 shop and workshop operators, 35 rooftop schools and welfare organizations and 700 illegal hawkers. The aim is to move all existing tenants living in Shek Kip Mei Estate to enable the 29 blocks to be converted or redeveloped to provide self-contained accommodation units.
61. Shek Kip Mei Estate, the oldest and most overcrowded of the Mark I estates, was built in 1954; the first in the resettlement housing programme. The intention is to demolish one block for road extension, convert 21 blocks into self-contained accommodation and redevelop seven blocks for an estate centre to provide modern commercial, social and other ancilliary facilities. The total cost of the scheme is estimated at $80 million.
62. The first phase was completed during the year. After a six- month study of the problems involved, a start was made in October 1972 to transfer 11,000 domestic tenants, 48 shops, 11 workshops, and two welfare agencies housed in six blocks. The move to new accom- modation in Pak Tin Estate was completed by the end of March 1973.
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