XN000022-1980-06-25 — Page 20

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1980

+GUESSTIMATE+ OF SQUATTER POPULATION

*****

THE EXTENT OF SQUATTING THROUGHOUT HONG KONG IS SUBSTANTIAL AND A GUESSTIMATE OF THE TOTAL COULD RUN AS HIGH AS 750 000 PEOPLE.

THE SECRETARY FOR HOUSING, THE HON DONALD LIAO, SAID THIS IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL THIS AFTERNOON.

MR LIAO SAID: IN THE ABSENCE OF A FULL-SCALE SURVEY, NO ACCURATE FIGURES ARE AVAILABLE REGARDING SQUATTERS. HOWEVER

HOWEVER, IT IS NOW ESTIMATED THAT THIS SECTOR OF THE POPULATION COULD COMPRISE AS MANY AS THREE-QUARTERS OF A MILLION PEOPLE.

HE SAID THAT THE SQUATTER CONTROL DIVISION OF THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT WAS BEING GREATLY STRENGTHENED AND THAT ABOUT 5 000 HUTS HAD BEEN DEMOLISHED IN THE PAST THREE MONTHS.

DESPITE THESE EFFORTS, HOWEVER, THE NUMBER OF NEW OCCUPIED HUTS WAS INCREASING BY 400 A MONTH.

+THE STRENGTHENING OF STAFF RESOURCES WILL ENABLE THE DEPARTMENT TO CONCENTRATE ITS EFFORTS ON KNOWN SQUATTER BLACKSPOTS WHICH ARE DAILY ATTRACTING NEW SQUATTERS AND HUT BUILDERS, HE SAID.

+ALSO, WITH VIGOROUS LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTION IT WILL PROVE POSSIBLE TO CONTAIN FRESH SQUATTING IN AREAS DUE FOR DEVELOPMENT, BUT I AM UNDER NO ILLUSIONS ABOUT REDUCING THE PROBLEM.

+THE PEOPLE ARE HERE IN HONG KONG, MORE ARE ARRIVING DAILY AND THEY HAVE TO LIVE SOMEWHERE. IN OUR PRESENT HOUSING SITUATION, FOR MOST OF THEM THAT SOMEWHERE IS INEVITABLY A SQUATTER HUT.+

SINCE 1976, HE SAID, THE GOVERNMENT HAD ADOPTED A POLICY OF CONTAINING SQUATTING IN AREAS SCHEDULED FOR DEVELOPMENT, BY USING INTENSIVE PATROLLING.

IN OTHER AREAS THERE WAS MORE GENERAL PATROLLING, AND HUTS WHICH WERE QUICKLY ERECTED AND OCCUPIED WERE ALLOWED TO STAND TO AVOID THE CONSIDERABLE REHOUSING COMMITMENT THAT WOULD ARISE FROM THE IR DEMOLITION.

MR LIAO SAID THE MOST ACTIVE AREA FOR SQUATTING WAS EAST KOWLOON, WHERE RACKETEERS WERE CAPITALISING ON THE HOMELESSNESS OF NEW ARRIVALS BY SELLING THEM HUTS OF 200 SQ FT AT MORE THAN $10 000.

*THE ADDED LURE OF EVENTUAL PUBLIC HOUSING, SHOULD THE SQUATTER LOSE HIS HOME AS THE RESULT OF A FIRE, DEVELOPMENT CLEARANCE OR SQUATTER CONTROL ACTION, PERMITS THE RACKETEERS TO CHARGE THESE EXORBITANT PRICES, HE ADDED.

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