XN000022-1976-10-02 — Page 7

HONG KONG HOUSING AUTHORITY FEZAV

PRESS

CELEASE TH

新聞稿

Saturday, 2nd October 1975

HOUSING AUTHROTTY SPENDS MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON MAINTAINING AND IMPROVING ITS ESTATES

The Housing Authority has budgeted to spend $82 million this financial

year on maintaining its older estates and making them more attractive.

The Maintenance Section will carry out 190,000 jobs this year, ranging

in size and complexity from clearing blocked drains to renovating 1,000 toilets

or fitting 18,000 fluorescent in estate corridors.

One area receiving a great deal of attention is environmental

improvements through such schemes as planting trees and flowers in gardens or

installing swings and slides or sitting out areas.

The Authority's Chief Maintenance Surveyor, Mr Raymond Bates, said

one of the most costly jobs was repainting with 20 contracts let this year

costing $12.8 million. All estates are completely repainted every four years and

the Maintenance Section is currently looking into ways to improve repainting.

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"This year we are buying equipment to tell us how many coats of paint

have been applied to a surface over the years and the thickness of each coat,

Mr Bates said. Negotiations were also going on with manufacturers to see whether

a paint can be produced to the Authority's specification which would overcome the

problem of paintwork deteriorating through fungus growth.

Three more lifts have been installed at Tung Tau Estate and work is

to begin early next year on putting in four extra lifts at Lam Tin Estate and

three at Shek Lei. The possibility of speeding up some lifts is being investigated.

Last month, 788 lifts were inspected.

were in progress.

While repairs and improvements to 120

/2......