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ON
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1984
+OLD NAMES SUCH AS SHEK KIP ME, LI CHENG UK, WONG TAI SIN AND CHAI WAN ARE NO LONGER SYMBOLS OF DRAB HOUSING IN DULL SURROUNDINGS, HE SAID.
THEY WERE NOW IDENTIFIED AS DISTRICTS WITH NEW AND WELL PLANNED HOUSING COMPLETE WITH ALL MODERN FACILITIES, HE SAID.
WITH REGARD TO THE SUGGESTION THAT GOVERNMENT SHOULD CURTAIL EXPENDITURE ON PUBLIC HOUSING, AND EXPAND THE PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION SCHEME, HE SAID THAT THE SCHEME'S PRESENT PRODUCTION TARGET OF 5 000 FLATS A YEAR WOULD NOT BE ACHIEVED UNTIL NEXT YEAR.
+ IT IS TOO EARLY, THEREFORE, TO CONTEMPLATE INCREASING THE PRIVATE SECTOR'S INVOLVEMENT IN THIS AREA AT THIS STAGE,
HE SAID.
ON THE QUESTION OF SQUATTER CLEARANCE, HE SAID THAT ALTHOUGH NEARLY 1.4 MILLION SQUATTERS HAD BEEN REHOUSED SINCE THE START OF PUBLIC HOUSING IN THE MID 1950'S, LATEST ESTIMATES STILL PUT THE SQUATTER POPULATION AT ABOUT HALF A MILLION, WITH SOME 180 000 IN THE URBAN AREAS, INCLUDING TSUEN WAN, ABOUT 11 000 BEING BOAT SQUATTERS, AND THE REMAINDER BEING SCATTERED IN THE NEW TERRITORIES.
A NEW PROGRAMME AIMED AT CLEARING AND REHOUSING ALL SQUATTERS IN THE URBAN AREAS BY THE EARLY 1990'S, INCLUDING BOAT SQUATTERS, AND OTHERS ON UNSAFE SLOPES NOT EARMARKED FOR DEVELOPMENT.
+THE SUCCESS OF THIS PROGRAMME WILL, OF COURSE, DEPEND ON AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF PUBLIC HOUSING AND THE POPULATION GROWTH IN THESE AREAS BEING CONTAINED,+ HE SAID.
MEANWHILE, HE SAID, THE SQUATTER AREA IMPROVEMENT SCHEME WOULD CONTINUE BUT PRIORITY WOULD BE ACCORDED TO ESSENTIAL WORK, SUCH AS THE PROVISION OF FIRE BREAKS AND SLOPE STABILISATION MEASURES.
+BECAUSE OF THE ACCELERATED CLEARANCES, THE NEED FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO FACILITIES AND AMENITIES IN URBAN SQUATTER AREAS WILL BE SUBSTANTIALLY REDUCED WITH CORRESPONDING SAVINGS IN EXPENDITURE,+ HE SAID.
REFERRING TO A POINT RAISED BY AN UNOFFICIAL MEMBER THAT NEW TOWN RESIDENTS DID NOT HAVE SUFFICIENT TIME TO FIND SCHOOL PLACES FOR THEIR CHILDREN BECAUSE OF LATE NOTIFICATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING ALLOCATION, MR LIAO SAID HE UNDERSTOOD THAT THIS WAS IN FACT NOT TOO SERIOUS A PROBLEM,
+ALLOCATION OF PUBLIC HOUSING IS A CONTINUAL PROCESS AND PROSPECTIVE TENANTS ARE NOTIFIED AS SOON AS FLATS CAN BE ALLOCATED.
+WHERE TENANTS DO HAVE DIFFICULTY IN SECURING SCHOOL PLACES, THE STAFF OF THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT ARE ALWAYS READY TO ASSIST,+ HE SAID.
THE IMPORTANT THING, HE SAID, WAS TO ENSURE THAT SUFFICIENT SCHOOL PLACES WERE AVAILABLE WHEN TENANTS MOVED INTO NEW ESTATES, HE SAID.
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