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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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3.
12th June, 1966, the population was down to about 100. The number of latrines had therefore been reduced to 6. These latrines are in section 3. The present population of the area is now about 460 and platforms for 6 additional latrines are ready to bring into use as the number of residents increase.
(c) Thirdly. Before the rainstorm, there was only one standpipe left in use, that one being in section 3. Two others have since been re-opened, one each in sections 1 and 2.
The answer to the third part of the question is that the Resettlement Officer in charge of a squatter control district is responsible for the resite areas within his district. If, as a result of his own inspections, or on a report from the Resettlement Assistant in charge of an area, he finds that anything requires attention, he will initiate action. Latrines are installed by the Urban Services Department and water standpipes generally by the Water Authority, requests for these being channelled through the headquarters office of my department. Paths, storm water channels, steps and terraces are maintained by the Works Division of my department which attends promptly to all defects brought to their attention by either the Resettlement Officer concerned or headquarters.
MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, I am very grateful to Mr. BARTY for giving this very detailed answer to the question, but I do have one or two supplementaries.
Part (a) of the answer says that the location which has been rendered unsafe will not be re-occupied until repairs have been carried out. The work started at the end of last week. Now I visited the area on the 28th June, and the people were already building their huts in the area, before the work had been carried out. I wonder if Mr. BARTY is aware of this?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- It is perfectly true that a number of people have been re-sited at Shek Pai Wan since the rains of 12th June, and that accounts for the population having gone up from 100 just before the rains to 460. They are not, however, allotted sites for their huts on positions which are considered to be dangerous.
MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, may I ask Mr. BARTY if he realized this site was unsafe before I wrote to him and drew his attention to it?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- I was aware, Mr. Chairman, that certain parts of this re-site area had been damaged by the rain, and I have since been to the re-site area myself.
MRS. ELLIOTT:- The second question, Mr. Chairman, concerns the latrines and water. When I visited the area on the 28th there were not sufficient latrines and the water tap had been closed. Could Mr. BARTY give us some assurance that in the future these points will be checked before the people are resettled and not afterwards?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- There could not have been more than 460 people living in the resite area when Mrs. ELLIOTT visited it. At that time there were six latrines. This is the normal scale for resite areas - one latrine per 100 residents - so in a sense at that time they were over provided. The tap which Mrs. ELLIOTT saw closed was in section 1. That has since been re-opened. The tap which has been working all along is in section 3, because that was the area in which most re-sited people were living.
MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, I do not know whether the tap was in section 1 or section 3, but I wonder if Mr. BARTY would agree that the tap which I am referring to as being closed was very close to the people who were complaining that they had to go a long distance for water because that particular tap was closed?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- That is correct, and that tap, since people have been re-sited in section 1, has been re-opened.
MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, this leads me to one point which I would like to ask Mr. BARTY. I am very grateful for what he has done and I know he attends to things as soon as they are reported to him. But I would like to feel, and I would like an assurance, that the officers who send people to these places are checking beforehand because this is why people are refusing to leave the North Point Camp and other camps and go to these huts. They say they do not want to take their children to these dangerous places. I would like some assurance on this.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- I would be very glad to give that assurance, Mr. Chairman. You will appreciate that after the rainstorm on 12th June, both my Works Division and our Maintenance Contractor were very heavily engaged and it was not possible to do everything at once.
MRS. ELLIOTT:- Mr. Chairman, I quite agree there was a lot of work to be done, but could we be assured that the people will be allowed to remain in the temporary camps until these things have been checked?