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5
UN
Wednesday, October 25, 1972
AIM OF THE TEN-YEAR HOUSING PROGRAMME
The aim of the housing programme announced by the Governor in
the Legislative Council last week is to provide homes for enough people
so that squatter huts will become a thing of the past, and to improve living
conditions in the densely crowded urban areas and in public housing estates
of today.
Homes for many hundreds of thousands are also required to clear
land for development to meet emergencies and to provide for renewal
and improvement of the old tenement areas of Hong Kong and Kowloon.
At the same time the population is growing so that the combined
efforts of the public and the private sectors have to meet the need for
homes for a 18.5 per cent increase in population over the ten-year period
in addition to meeting these other objectives.
A government spokesman said: "It is hoped that this programme
will eliminate the housing shortage which, despite the fact that 1.6 million
people have already been housed in public housing estates, continues
to be one of our remaining problems and, as the Governor had said, 'one
of the continuing and major sources of friction between Government and
the people.
To accomplish this programme, the Tsuen Wan conurbation, Shatin
and Tuen Mun will each undergo immense changes and engineering development
to provide land for homes for half a million more people in each of
these towns
/Not only