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Wednesday, March 29, 1972
He cited, the annually updated Five Year Forecast of Revenue and
Expenditure, the Public Works Programme, the 10-year water development
sequences, the four year housing programmes, the airport development
programmes, the Medical Development Plan, the Development Plan for the
Fire Services, the setting of targets for the expansion of the education
system, various special studies such as the Long Term Road Study and the
Mass Transit Studies as well as a host of departmental studies which form
the basis, for instance, of land use policy and reclamation.
Those had not been set down in an overall 3 or 5 or 10 year
Development Plan but all were ultimately reflected in the annual Estimates
and extensively documented.
Planned Econory
"But I think it can be fairly said that that sort of overall plan,
which usually involves a planned economy too, tends to inhibit that flexibility
of approach and execution which is so necessary if the needs of the community
are to be met; for, once a share of assumed available resources has been
allocated to a particular service or department or sector of the economy, it
is difficult to affect changes.
"Not that, in any case, in Hong Kong's circumstances we can ever
make very firm assumptions about available resources - though we can,
now, in the short term, make such an assumption thanks to our much criticised
TT
reserves, he said.
The Financial