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Wednesday, November 28, 1973
CONTRACT CUTS SPEED UP PUBLIC HOUSING
Work was progressing today on 13 public housing contracts which
will provide homes for 153,000 people and plans are well in hand to let
more than 40 other contracts within the next two years to build housing
for another 500,000, the Hon. Ian Lightbody, Secretary for Housing, said
today.
He told the Legislative Council that earlier completion dates
had been negotiated for some contracts due to be finished in 18 months
or 80.
"In this way. he went on,
"the completion date for a number of
blocks at Lei Muk Shu Estate has been advanced by six months, that is
the contract time has been reduced from 30 to 24 months. At Hing Wah
Estate, the building period has been cut by eight months and at Oi Man
Estate by up to six months. This will cost money of course, but extra
outlay should be largely recouped by earlier rental incomes."
Mr. Lightbody said that the Housing Authority had considered
selling, ratlier than renting some domestic units, but it was decided that
this was not the time to introduce the scheme and it had been shelved.
The Authority, said Mr. Lightbody, was conscious of the need to
concentrate on baking a bigger cake to achieve its housing target rather
than to argue about the division of the present small cake. This called
for a substantial reinforcement of the Housing Department and for the
/creation of
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