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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
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2.
been in existence for a number of years and are mostly covered by the Squatter Control Survey carried out by the Resettlement Department in 1959. During the rainstorm in June 1966, part of this village was flooded. All the villagers then evacuated their homes and sought accommodation elsewhere. After the rainstorm was over and the village drained and cleaned, it was found that only a few structures had suffered slight damage. Nevertheless, the Resettlement Department offered to resite the people at Shek Pai Wan resite area. This offer was refused as the villagers wished to return to their old homes.
The answer to the second part of the question is that these families are living in tolerated squatter structures in an area which is not required for development in the near future. They have therefore no priority for resettlement.
3. With regard to the last part of the question, occupation of the first block of the Shek Pai Wan Resettlement Estate began on 5th December, 1966, and the second block will shortly be ready for occupation. The estimated completion dates for the other blocks are: three in April 1967, one in September 1967 and the last in March 1968.
MR. BERNACCHI:- Mr. Chairman, if you will allow a question slightly out of context. This matter involves, in my submission, a greater question, and that is the question of resettlement of squatters in Hong Kong, as far as possible in Hong Kong Island resettlement, and Kowloon, in Kowloon or the New Territories. With that in mind, does the Commissioner contemplate that on the completion of the Shek Pai Wan Resettlement Estate these occupants of the village in question will be resettled in priority to some settlers brought over from Kowloon for the purpose?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Certainly, Mr. Chairman. As Mr. BERNACCHI has pointed out, we are short of resettlement accommodation on the Island for likely commitments on the Island, and I do not think there would ever be any question of bringing people from Kowloon to be re-housed in estates on the Island.
MR. BERNACCHI:- So, in other words, on the completion of Shek Pai Wan Resettlement Estate, these villagers will take priority in due course with other settlers on Hong Kong Island. Maybe the other settlers will have priority and Shek Pai Wan will become full. They will have priority before any settlers in Kowloon?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Yes, Mr. Chairman, except that, of course, they will not have priority for resettlement until this particular area where they are living is required for development.
MR. SALES:- Mr. Chairman, may I assure Mr. BERNACCHI that Kowloon squatters have no wish to be brought over to the Island. (Laughter).
MR. BERNACCHI:- I thank Mr. SALES very much for that assurance, and I have come across it very often in Chai Wan that Chai Wan squatters have no desire to be resettled in Kowloon. (Laughter).
MR. SALES:- So it is really a question of mutual affection for each other, both the squatters on one side as well as those on the other.
MR. BERNACCHI:- Yes, indeed.
CHAIRMAN:- Ladies and Gentlemen, if there are questions, the next item on the agenda is the Motion.
MOTION.
no further
MR. B. A. BERNACCHI moved the following motion:-
That this Council do set up an Ad Hoc Select Committee to make recommendations as to how the public at large can obtain the correct image of this Council's work.
He said: Mr. Chairman, I am not going to make a long speech. I think that Members will agree with me that the work of this Council to-day covers nearly every aspect of the day-to-day life of the citizens of urban Hong Kong, and by urban Hong Kong I mean, of course, the whole of Hong Kong including Kowloon. However, do the citizens realize it? Certainly, one weekly review in the English language does not seem to do so.
I am not saying that we should pat ourselves on the back, or indeed that we should want praise for the work which at least all the Unofficials have volunteered to do, either by offering themselves for election or by accepting the Governor's Appointment to this Council. But with the emphasis at present lying on local Government, and indeed the promise of His Excellency the Governor to make considerable reforms in local Government, which I take to mean giving our citizens a better say in matters which concern their day-to-day livelihood, it is, I submit, essential that we do give the public a correct impression of this Council's work, this Council being at present the only Council having executive powers in local Government affairs in Hong Kong.
How can the man in the street, the citizen of Hong Kong, understand the Ad Hoc Committee's recommendations of the future scope and role of the Urban Council (even when an official translation)