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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
THE ACTING COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
In answer to the first part of Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's question, out of a total of 5,613 units available for letting in urban resettlement factories, 817 are vacant.
The second part of the question concerns rental lost to Government as a result of these units remaining empty. The rent and rates payable in respect of these units, if they were occupied, would be $77,295 a month. However, this part of the question appears to be based on a misunderstanding. The purpose for which resettlement factories are built is to provide accommodation for squatter factories cleared from land required for development. It is therefore essential that there should be always available a pool of unoccupied resettlement factory units into which squatter factories can be cleared when the land they are occupying is required for other uses. This pool of unoccupied space is fulfilling a purpose. In fact, if it were all occupied, the Government might have to build additional factories in order to have in hand empty units available for future clearances.
It is not possible to forecast when these units will be filled since this depends on variable factors such as the future rate of public and private development.
Temporary use of unoccupied resettlement factory units would entail both legal and practical difficulties. However, the Resettlement Management Select Committee may wish to consider this most interesting suggestion further.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, can the Acting Commissioner for Resettlement confirm that there is a total of 7,868 units which include both units let and units vacant?
ACTING COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Mr. Chairman, I think the total number is 7,869, but that does, of course, include the units in the New Territories.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- According to my information, Mr. Chairman, units let are 5,346, and units vacant 2,522. So perhaps this addition of one arises out of the new arithmetic which the Resettlement Department is working on. Unless there is an additional unit somewhere, this makes a total of 7,868. Now, can the Commissioner confirm that according to the latest statistics available there are over 2,500 units vacant?
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ACTING COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Mr. Chairman, I cannot, I am afraid, give the precise figures, because as the boy looking after the store, I did not bring with me the figures for the New Territories. I can, however, check on the precise up-to-date figures and let the Member have them later should he so wish.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- In any event, would the Commissioner agree that it is approximately that figure?
ACTING COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- It may, Mr. Chairman, be approximately that figure, including the units in the New Territories.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Thank you. Now, can the Commissioner also confirm that approximately the amount of rent and rates lost to Government as a result of these 2,500 vacant units is somewhere near a quarter of a million Hong Kong dollars? To be more precise, it is about $230,000 plus.
ACTING COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Mr. Chairman, I am sorry I cannot confirm that, because as I said before, I have not come with the figures for units in the New Territories.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- I just made some rough calculations, Mr. Chairman, based on the statistics I have available, and if I am proved wrong, I would appreciate it if the Commissioner would let me know in writing. Now, arising out of this, Mr. Chairman, in order to help Government gain some income on these vacant units, many of them having been vacant for as long as one year, perhaps even two years, could the Commissioner give consideration to the possibility of Government revising its resettlement policy, so that some of the small factory units in the urban areas, especially those in multi-storey buildings, can be given the opportunity to move into resettlement factory units, either in the urban areas or in the New Territories?
ACTING COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Mr. Chairman, I have explained the way in which we view this matter. The unoccupied factory units are intended—paradoxical though it may seem—to be empty at the moment, because we never know when we may need them for the purpose for which they were designed. Nevertheless, I will certainly undertake that we should take a fresh look at this matter in the light of what Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has said.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the assurance given to me by the Commissioner, but I believe a case for review by the Government is called for, especially since according to the latest statistics, out of a total of 7,868 units only 5,346 units have been let, and there are vacant over 2,500 units.
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