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1
Wednesday, November 1, 1972
He made three points for consideration by the Government. The first
concerns the standard of accommodation of 35 square feet per person being
used in low-cost and the latest resettlement housing.
In a city of rising standards and expectations, he said it is
important to improve this standard of accommodation from time to time in
order to avoid what some experts have called the mass production of future
slums.
Secondly, Dr. Chung said the present method of allocation of housing
on a "first come first served" basis has a "great inherent drawback" of not
relating location of work with that of residence.
"A major improvement would be achieved if allocation of housing
could be made by matching location of work with location of housing for the
applicants.
"This approach will not only minimise the reluctance of potential
inhabitants and potential factories to move out to new townships in the
New Territories but will also reduce demand for the already over-taxed public
transport particularly during rush hours," he said.
The last point concerns productivity in Hong Kong's building
construction industry. Dr. Chung said during the past five years, building
construction costs had nearly doubled whilst there had been little or no
progress in labour productivity in the building industry.
Compared to the export manufacturing industries, mechanisation in
the building industry has been minimal during the past decade, he said.
This unsatisfactory