2
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1977
HE SAID TO ACHIEVE ACCEPTABLE STANDARDS OF LIVING AND ENVIRONMENT, THE GOVERNMENT HAD TO INTERVENE DRASTICALLY TO SPREAD OUT THE POPULATION TO PROVIDE HOUSING FOR THE MAJORITY UNABLE TO PAY COMMERCIAL RENTS, AND TO ACHIEVE A MUCH BETTER BALANCE IN ALL AREAS BETWEEN HOUSING, PLACES OF EMPLOYMENT, PUBLIC SERVICES AND AMENITIES, OPEN SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS.
+THIS CONCEPT OF SPREADING OUT THE POPULATION TO REDUCE DENSITIES AND IMPROVE THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE NETWORK OF NEW COMMUNICATIONS NECESSARY TO ACHIEVE IT, ONLY EMERGED GRADUALLY,+ SIR MURRAY EXPLAINED.
SIR MURRAY SAID THAT THE VAST INFLUX OF POPULATION IN THE LATE '40S AND '50S AND THE PROBLEMS IT CREATED HAD DOMINATED HONG KONG EVER SINCE, +BUT FOR A TIME IT WAS NOT AT ALL APPARENT THAT THE PROBLEM WAS PERMANENT.+
IT GRADUALLY BECAME CLEAR THAT THE IMMIGRANTS HAD BECOME PERMANENT RESIDENTS OF HONG KONG AND THAT THEIR REQUIREMENTS MUST BE BUILT AND PLANNED FOR.
IN THE EARLY PHASE OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN HONG KONG, SIR MURRAY SAID, THE MAJOR TASK WAS TO FIND EMPLOYMENT AND SAFE WEATHER-PROOF AND FIRE-PROOF ACCOMMODATION AND THE DOMINANT PRIORITIES WERE THE PROVISION OF HOUSING AND LAND FOR INDUSTRY.
THE STANDARDS FIRST SET OUT FOR EARLY DEVELOPMENT SOON BECAME VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE IN THE DENSITIES CREATED IN URBAN AREAS WHERE LAND FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT WAS RUNNING OUT.
+ IN 1972 WE THEREFORE DECIDED THAT A CONCENTRATED EFFORT SHOULD BE MADE TO BREAK THE BACK OF THE PROBLEM OF UNDER-PROVISION
IN THE URBAN AREAS OF HONG KONG, SIR MURRAY EXPLAINED.
+WE SET OURSELVES A 10-YEAR PERIOD - UP TO 1983
UP TO 1983 -- AND DREW UP AND PUBLISHED PLANS TO PROVIDE BY THAT TIME PUBLIC HOUSING FOR ALL WHO NEEDED IT, AND ALSO TO COVER ADEQUATELY THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF EDUCATION, MEDICAL AND HEALTH SERVICES AND SOCIAL WELFARE.
1
+THESE PLANS NOT ONLY SET A TIMESCALE WITHIN WHICH THE PROBLEMS FORCED ON HONG KONG BY IMMIGRATION SHOULD BE SOLVED AND LET THE PUBLIC KNOW WHAT IT WOULD BE, BUT ALSO MADE POSSIBLE THE PLANNING OF URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN SUCH A WAY THAT THE NEW TOWNS SHOULD BE FROM THE START AS BALANCE COMMUNITIES, WITH PROVISIONS BEING MADE FOR INDUSTRY, PUBLIC HOUSING, SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, RECREATIONAL SPACE AND OTHER AMENITIES AND COMMUNITY FACILITIES TO THE SCALES PROVIDED FOR IN THE OVERALL PLAN, HE SAID.
/PLANS WERE