XN000022-1972-07-22 — Page 14

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Saturday, July 22, 1972

Architects have now been appointed in respect of Blocks A and B,

Po Shan Mansion, at 10-16 Po Shan Road and additionally the Public Works

Department are undertaking soil investigations which should produce

information which will be evaluated by the end of August. The reoccupation

of 53 and 55 Conduit Road must await the decision in respect of Po Shan

Mansion.

The spokesman said that the appointment of an architect in respect

of the two blocks at Emerald Gardens, No. 36, Kotewall Road, is awaited, but

one of these blocks is badly damaged and has been shored.

Since work cannot be commenced on this damaged block while the

clearance operation at Kotewall Court continues and since repair will in

any event be difficult, it is unlikely that this building can be re-occupied

in the near future, he said.

In the meantime, the spokesman said the clearance and body recovery

operation at Kotewall Court continues on a 24-hour basis and the work is

proceeding as quickly as is possible.

He said that because this operation is primarily one of body

recovery and also because the work is both difficult and dangerous, it is

necessarily a time-consuming operation. Nevertheless, 31 bodies have been

recovered since the 23rd June, most of these in the last two weeks.

Release time: 2.30 p.m.