MEMORANDU M.
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(a)
Objects of the scheme and the advantages that are expected to be derived from it.
A large proportion of the population of the Colony lives in conditions of appalling overcrowding and squalor. These conditions are to a large extent caused by the influx of refugees from China.
The intention is to construct two groups of four blocks of five-storeyed flats, the two groups being located on adjacent pieces of land in the SHEUNG LI UK area of New Kowloon to the south west of the Tai Po Road. The location has been selected largely because it is in close proximity to the large industrial areas of Shamshuipo and Lai Chi Kok, and is therefore conveniently placed for the type of persons whom it is particularly desired to benefit.
The blocks of flats will contain a varying number of tenements according to their size, and the total number of flats will be 370, of which 190 will be on one site and 180 on the other. Sketch plans of the flats and of the layouts are enclosed as Appendices C and D.
One
The total cost of the 190 flats is estimated at $1,132,968, including $120,000 for site formation and 6% of the building costs only for architects' fees. The corresponding figure for the 180 flats is $1,076,500 including $96,000 for site formation and the same scale of architects' fees. The se figures do not include the value of the land which is $293,700 and $207,080 in each case and which it is proposed should be recovered over the duration of the lease in annual instalments with interest.
This
It will be noted that the plans allow for one living room, a kitchen, w.c. and small balcony in each flat. is considered to be the minimum possible standard of accommodation on health and social grounds and is preferred to a cheaper form of barrack accommodation with communal kitchen, bathrooms and w.c.'s on each floor. The plan is designed to allow for the maximum through ventilation and is sufficiently strong to withstand typhoon conditions without being extravagant.
In order to make a start with this scheme at the earliest possible date, it is proposed that the Public Works Department should undertake the site formation, construction of access roads, and installation of water and drainage for which assistance from Colonial Development & Welfare funds is now sought, and that the sites, when formed, should be handed over to the Hong Kong Housing Society. I enclose as Appendix E a memorandum setting out the aims and objects of this Society. If these proposals are approved, the Society will be required to become incorporated and, on formation of an Improvement Trust on the lines indicated in the covering despatch, to merge its functions into those of the Trust and make over the flats to it.
In view of the magnitude of the housing project now contemplated, it is proposed that the Hong Kong Council of Social Service should be advised to use the grant of £14,000 from the Lord Mayor of London's Empire Air Raid Distress Fund for other purposes, but the services of their trained Housing Manageress, who has since arrived in the Colony, are expected to be of great assistance.
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