XN000022-1986-05-07 — Page 7

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 199

AS REGARDS TRAINING FOR LOCAL OFFICERS, SIR DAVID SAID THE ADMINISTRATION WAS CONSCIOUS OF THE NEED TO CONTINUE TO STRENGTHEN AND EXPAND THE GOVERNMENT'S TRAINING CAPABILITY IN THE COMING YEARS.

IN ORDER TO PREPARE MID-CAREER OFFICERS FOR WIDER MANAGERIAL RESPONSIBILITIES, GENERALLY AT THE DIRECTORATE LEVEL, A SENIOR STAFF COURSE, WHICH WAS A THREE-MONTH FULL-TIME ADMINISTRATIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME, WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1984, HE SAID.

+BY THE END OF 1989, OVER 400 OFFICERS WILL HAVE BENEFITTED FROM THIS COURSE,+ HE ADDED.

SIR DAVID NOTED THAT GOOD USE WAS ALSO MADE OF MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES RUN BY OVERSEAS INSTITUTIONS.

IN SELECTING OFFICERS FOR SUCH PROGRAMMES, PARTICULAR REGARD WAS GIVEN TO THE LONGER TERM COMPOSITION OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE AND THE DIRECTORATE STAFFING NEEDS OF THE DEPARTMENTS CONCERNED, HE SAID.

SQUATTERS TO BE CLEARED FROM DANGEROUS SLOPES

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ABOUT 50 000 SQUATTERS LIVING ON SLOPES CONSIDERED SUSCEPTIBLE TO LANDSLIPS ARE TO BE CLEARED BY 1990, THE SECRETARY FOR LANDS AND WORKS, THE HON NICKY CHAN, TOLD THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY (WEDNESDAY).

REPLYING TO QUESTIONS BY THE HON POON CHI-FAI, MR CHAN SAID IT WAS NOT POSSIBLE TO GIVE EXACT FIGURES ON THE NUMBER OF SQUATTERS AT RISK, BUT IT WAS ESTIMATED THAT ABOUT 50 000 PEOPLE LIVED ON THESE SLOPES IN SOME 10 000 STRUCTURES.

+MAJOR STABILISATION WORKS ON MOST OF THE SLOPES ARE PRECLUDED BY THE NEED TO CLEAR THE SQUATTERS BEFORE WORK CAN COMMENCE,+ HE SAID. +SOME MINOR STABILISATION HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT AS PART OF THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT'S SQUATTER AREA IMPROVEMENT SCHEME.+

THE LONGER-TERM SOLUTION, MR CHAN POINTED OUT, WAS SQUATTER CLEARANCE AND THOSE LIVING ON THE MORE VULNERABLE SLOPES WOULD BE CLEARED BY 1990 UNDER THE HOUSING DEPARTMENT'S NON-DEVELOPMENT CLEARANCE PROGRAMME.

+UNTIL SUCH TIME AS ALL SQUATTERS ARE CLEARED FROM UNSAFE SLOPES. THE GOVERNMENT WILL CONTINUE TO RELY ON ITS LANDSLIP WARNING SYSTEM TO WARN SQUATTERS OF POSSIBLE LANDSLIPS, HE ADDED.

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