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Wednesday, November 14, 1973
He urged the Government to make a statement on the practicability
of regulating, under existing circumstances, local prices of essential
foodstuffs and to clarify whether a special committee or committees ought
to be set up for the purpose.
Moving on to the field of housing, Mr. Cheong-Leen brought up
the feasibility of selling Housing Authority flats to families in the
middle income groups.
"A pilot home-ownership scheme will on the one hand enable the
Housing Authority to generate a faster cash-flow in order to build more
public housing.
"On the other hand, this scheme should represent a clear indication
to the public that the Government is committed to encouraging home-ownership
on the part of our middle-income groups, thus strengthening the sense of
community identity and civic responsibility," he said.
Mr. Choong-Leen said he would like to see also a faster rate of
replacing old Mark I and II resettlement estates which at the present
rate of rebuilding could take 10 years or more to house the 500,000 people
affected.
He expressed the hope that the government would be able to say
how soon a minimum of 50 square feet living space per person could be provided
during the current 10-year housing programme.
/He also