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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
(b) Has the quota for 1972-73 begun?
(c) In which estates are rooms available for compassionate
resettlement?
MR. PETER C. K. CHAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE RESETTLEMENT SELECT COMMITTEE, replied as follows:-
(a) The compassionate resettlement quota was not fully taken up in 1971-72. Originally 5,000 spaces, it was increased to 7,500 during the year to meet the demand expected by the Social Welfare Department. As Members know, the machinery for processing applicants under this quota was changed at the end of 1971 and this has no doubt affected the issue. However, we have not had any com- plaints from the Social Welfare Department that we are not providing them with sufficient rooms for allocation. In addition, 1,100 spaces in Blocks 1, 2 and 3 at Tsz Wan Shan which were earmarked for compassionate cases had to be used for tenants evacuated from Block 28 at Tsz Wan Shan late last year.
(b) Although the quota for 1972-73 has not yet been fixed, this is not being allowed to delay the allocation of rooms
for this purpose. We have 1,700 spaces immediately available, carried over from the 1971-72 quota, and this will carry us through until newly built accommodation becomes available at the new sections of Sau Mau Ping and Lam Tin in August this year.
(c) The rooms earmarked for compassionate cases are at Shek Lei, Tsz Wan Shan, Lam Tin, Yau Tong, Sau Mau Ping, Castle Peak and Yuen Long Estates.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, concerning Section (b). In the past, the allocation of quota has been fixed very early in the year. Can I know why it has not yet been fixed as it is already June?
MR. CHAN: As we have said, we have 1,700 spaces immediately available. When the Social Welfare Department asks for rooms we have these for allocation, and I think we will consider the quota very soon in the Select Committee. As Mrs. ELLIOTT knows, the Select Committee is quite fully occupied with other items and we have to have additional meetings.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, the mention of 1,700 spaces brings me to Section (c) of my question which says in which are rooms available. Where are those 1,700 rooms available?
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MR. CHAN:-Section (c) says that they are scattered in all estates, Shek Lei, Tsz Wan Shan, Lam Tin, Yau Tong, Sau Mau Ping, Castle Peak and Yuen Long, and I would say that Castle Peak and Yuen Long are more readily available than the other more congested estates. The ideal rooms are less easy to find because quite a lot of people do not give up the rooms.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, when the Chairman of the Select Committee answered part (c) of my question, was he aware that it is untrue that there are rooms available in Tsz Wan Shan, Lam Tin, Sau Mau Ping, and Shek Lei. I am not sure about Yau Tong, but there are certainly no rooms at any of the other estates mentioned. Did he know that?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, for clarification, could I ask what is meant by the word "earmarked". Does that mean they are available now, or are they earmarked to be made available in the future?
now.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, of this total of 1,700, part of this, something like 1,100 are just becoming available 600 of the 1,700 have been available since the beginning of the year. The other 1,100 have been an adjusting item, because 1,100 places reserved for compassionate cases at Blocks 1, 2, and 3 of Tsz Wan Shan had to be taken up for the housing of the people who evacuated Block 28 at Tsz Wan Shan as a result of the landslide. We have since then been adjusting the allocations to make up that 1,100 in other directions. We have in fact been raiding the clearance quotas, and these 1,100 places have now been earmarked for compassionate cases and the room numbers will be allocated to the Social Welfare Department.
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, Section (a) says that the Social Welfare Department have not made any complaints. Is that absolutely true?
MR. SALES: --Mr. Chairman, if that question is left unanswered, may I follow it up by asking, Sir, whether this Council can be given an assurance that the Social Welfare Department will not be dilatory as they are notoriously so in processing cases which are submitted to them for compassionate resettlement?
MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, may I for once defend the Social Welfare Department?
CHAIRMAN:--Are you asking a supplementary? This is not a
debate.