XN000022-1977-04-27 — Page 5

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1977*

PUBLIC HOUSING BUILDING PROGRAMME

TO BE SPED UP

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THE HOUSING AUTHORITY AIMS TO INCREASE AS RAPIDLY AS POSSIBLE ITS ANNUAL PRODUCT ON TO A POINT WHERE IT CAN REHOUSE OVER 200,000 PEOPLE A YEAR FOLLOWING THE SETBACKS DURING THE ECONOMIC RECESSION.

THIS WAS STATED TODAY BY THE SECRETARY FOR ADMINISTRATION MR. IAN LIGHTBODY, IN A SPEECH TO THE ZONTA CLUB OF HONG KONG.

MR. LIGHTBODY, WHO WAS UNTIL RECENTLY SECRETARY FOR HOUSING, SAID THIS WAS AN ENORMOUS UNDERTAKING WHICH REQUIRED A GREAT DEAL OF INTER-DEPARTMENTAL PLANNING AND COOPERATION, INVOLVING IN PARTICULAR THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT, THE PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT AND THE NEW TERRITORIES ADMINISTRATION.

HE STRESSED THAT LAND WAS A CRITICAL COMPONENT BECAUSE MOST DEVELOPABLE LAND WAS HEAVILY SQUATTED ON IN HONG KONG, AND PRESENT MAJOR CLEARANCE COMMITMENTS, INCLUDING PRIOR REHOUSING OF THE OCCUPANTS.

+HOWEVER, ALL CONCERNED ARE DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO OVERCOME THESE PROBLEMS AND TO KEEP THE PROGRAMME RUNNING ON SCHEDULE, + HE SAID.

MR. LIGHTBODY ALSO SPOKE ABOUT STEADY IMPROVEMENTS IN SPACE AND OTHER STANDARDS IN PUBLIC HOUSING ESTATES, AND THE VERY HEAVY RELIANCE ON LAND AND LONG-TERM LOANS FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

THIS REFLECTED THE GOVERNMENT'S DETERMINATION TO SEE HOUSING CONDITIONS IN HONG KONG GREATLY IMPROVED BY THE MID-1980S, HE SAID, ADDING THAT THE PROGRAMME WILL CONTINUE FOR AS LONG AS MAY BE NECESSARY.+

ON THE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FIELD OF PUBLIC HOUSING IN RECENT YEARS FOLLOWING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE HOUSING AUTHORITY, MR. LIGHTBODY TOLD THE GATHERING HOW THE 1973 REORGANISATION CENTRALISED RESPONSIBILITY FOR ALL PUBLIC HOUSING IN THE HOUSING AUTHORITY, WITH THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT SET UP AS ITS EXECUTIVE ARM.

THE INTENTION, HE SAID, HAD BEEN TO BRING ALL THE AVAILABLE RESOURCES TOGETHER SO AS TO GIVE MAXIMUM DRIVE TO THE MAJOR PUBLIC HOUSING PROGRAMMES WHICH GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED IN LATE 1972.

ONE OF THE GREAT ADVANTAGES OF THIS CENTRALISATION IN A SINGLE AUTHORITY WAS THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME IT OPENED THE WAY TO FAR GREATER MOBILITY ON THE PART OF PUBLIC HOUSING TENANTS.

IT ALSO OFFERED THEM A MUCH WIDER CHOICE OF LOCATION THAN WAS POSSIBLE PREVIOUSLY WHEN SEVERAL AGENCIES CONTROLLED DIFFERENT TYPES OF PUBLIC HOUSING, AND A WIDER RANGE OF TYPES OF ACCOMMODATION AND RENTALS.

NOW IT