XN000022-1978-06-16 — Page 2

FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1978

OUR HOUSING PROGRAMME ADMIRED AND ENVIED ABROAD - SIR DENYS ROBERTS ******

HONG KONG'S PUBLIC HOUSING PROGRAMME, AND THE PACE AT WHICH IT IS GOING AHEAD, IS A SUBJECT OF ADMIRATION AND ENVY ABROAD, THE CHIEF SECRETARY, SIR DENYS ROBERTS, SAID THIS (FRIDAY) EVENING.

+I HAVE RECENTLY RETURNED FROM A VISIT TO THE CARIBBEAN AND TO CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA, AND EVERYWHERE I WENT PUBLIC OFFICIALS KNEW OF OUR HOUSING PROGRAMME AND PRAISED IT AS A REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT, HE SAID.

SIR DENYS WAS SPEAKING AT THE ANNUAL DINNER OF THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE INSTITUTE OF HOUSING, WHICH WAS ATTENDED BY ABOUT 200 MEMBERS OF THE INSTITUTE, MANY OF THEM STAFF OF THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT, AS WELL AS THE ACTING SECRETARY FOR HOUSING, MR. DONALD LIAO, AND THE ACTING DIRECTOR OF HOUSING, MR. BERNARD WILLIAMS.

SIR DENYS SAID THAT ALTHOUGH ABOUT TWO MILLION PEOPLE ALREADY LIVED IN PUBLIC HOUSING, THIS HAD BY NO MEANS SOLVED OUR DIFFICULTIES AND UNDER PRESENT PLANS IT WAS INTENDED TO HOUSE UP TO 1-1/2 MILLION MORE PEOPLE IN HEAVILY SUBSIDISED PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION WITHIN THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS.

+WE HOPE THAT THIS WILL ENSURE THAT EVERYONE WHO NEEDS IT WILL BE ABLE TO OBTAIN PUBLIC HOUSING WITHIN HIS MEANS,+ HE SAID.

+ BUT OVERCROWDING WILL REMAIN AND MANY OF OUR OLDER ESTATES WILL BE BELOW CONTEMPORARY STANDARDS, SO THAT MUCH MORE REMAINS TO BE DONE.+

IN PROVIDING PUBLIC HOUSING, HE SAID, IT WAS NOT ENOUGH MERELY TO BUILD LARGE NUMBERS OF HUGE APARTMENT BLOCKS WHICH COULD DETERIORATE ALL TOO QUICKLY INTO SLUMS.

+1 AM SURE THAT MOST OF THE CREDIT FOR THE DRAMATIC IMPROVEMENT IN THE STANDARDS OF MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC HOUSING IN HONG KONG IN THE PAST FEW YEARS LS DUE TO THE MEMBERS OF THIS INSTITUTE, HE SAID.

THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES AS HOUSING MANAGERS HAD WIDENED FROM THE MAINTENANCE OF THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF BUILDINGS TO A GENERAL SUPERVISION OF ALL ASPECTS OF COMMUNITY LIFE IN HOUSING ESTATES.

HOUSING MANAGERS, AS PROFESSIONALS, NOW WERE CONSULTED ON THE LOCATION, DESIGN AND SCALE OF HOUSING PROJECTS, PROVIDING THE BENEFIT OF THEIR INVALUABLE EXPERIENCE TO PLANNERS AND ARCHITECTS.

ON THE GROUND, THEY WERE ALSO INVOLVED IN DEVISING A SYSTEM FOR THE SELECTION OF TENANTS WHICH WAS FAIR, AS FREE OF CORRUPTION AS POSSIBLE AND WHICH ENSURED THAT ONLY THOSE WEEDING SUCH ACCOMMODATION WOULD GET IT.

/+IT IS