XN000022-1992-03-05 — Page 17

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THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1992

"WE SHOULD RECOGNISE THE

CONFLICTING

PRESSURES WHICH

SUCH

PROBLEMS POSE AND CANNOT EXPECT COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTIONS TO BE READY IN WEEKS OR MONTHS," SIR DAVID SAID.

"WE SHOULD ALSO RECOGNISE AND BE GRATEFUL FOR THE EFFORTS OF THE DEVOTED MEMBERS OF THE HOUSING AUTHORITY WHO SHOULDER A HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY.

AND

"THEY ARE DRAWN FROM A WIDE CROSS SECTION OF OUR COMMUNITY ARE WELL PLACED TO SUGGEST BALANCED POLICIES WHICH WILL GAIN THE SUPPORT OF A MAJORITY IN OUR COMMUNITY," HE SAID.

F1

"THEY CAN BE VERY PROUD OF BEING INVOLVED IN WHAT MUST BE ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL HOUSING PROGRAMMES IN THE WORLD, HE ADDED.

SPEAKING AT THE OPENING OF KWONG YUEN ESTATE, THE AUTHORITY'S LATEST IN SHA TIN, THE CHIEF SECRETARY SAID IT WAS ANOTHER STEP FORWARD IN THE STEADY PROGRESS OF THE HOUSING STRATEGY AND IN BUILDING OF SHA TIN NEW TOWN WHICH HAD GROWN IN 20 YEARS FROM A QUIET MARKET TOWN OF 25.000 INTO A BUSTLING SUBURBAN SATELLITE CITY OF OVER 500,000.

"TOGETHER WITH OUR SEVEN OTHER NEW TOWNS, SHA TIN HAS BEEN IN THE FOREFRONT OF THE ENLARGED PUBLIC HOUSING EFFORT, BEGUN IN 1973, WHICH NOW PROVIDES HOMES FOR NEARLY THREE MILLION PEOPLE.

"IN THIS PERIOD WE HAVE SEEN THE POPULATION OF THE NEW TERRITORIES GROWN FROM ABOUT 700,000 IN 1971 TO 2.38 MILLION IN 1991, WHILE DURING THE LAST DECADE THE POPULATION OF KOWLOON HAS ACTUALLY DECLINED BY HALF A MILLION.

SIR DAVID SAID THAT AS A RESULT OF THIS SUSTAINED EFFORT. HOUSING CONDITIONS HAD IMPROVED DRAMATICALLY AS IN THE PAST FOUR YEARS THE COMBINED HOUSING PRODUCTION OF THE PUBLIC AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR NOW MEANT THAT A MILLION MORE PEOPLE WERE LIVING IN NEW FLATS CONSTRUCTED DURING THIS SHORT SPAN OF TIME.

IN HIS WELCOMING SPEECH, THE CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSING AUTHORITY, SIR DAVID AKERS-JONES, SAID THAT THE CHIEF SECRETARY HAD HIMSELF BEEN BOTH DIRECTOR OF HOUSING AND SECRETARY FOR HOUSING/CHAIRMAN OF THE HOUSING AUTHORITY, AND TOOK A CLOSE PERSONAL INTEREST IN HOUSING AND THE WORK OF THE AUTHORITY, AND **THIS IS A SOURCE OF GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT TO US IN OUR WORK".

BEFORE THE OPENING CEREMONY, SIR DAVID VISITED THREE ELDERLY WOMEN LIVING IN ONE OF THE SHELTERED HOUSING FLATS LOCATED WITHIN THE ESTATE AND THEN TOURED THE COMMERCIAL CENTRE, WHICH COMPRISES FIVE TWO-STOREY BLOCKS WITH 6,100 SQUARE METRES OF LETTABLE RETAIL SPACE.

KWONG YUEN, WHICH WAS BUILT IN FOUR STAGES FROM MARCH 1989 TO JANUARY 1990, COMPRISES SIX RENTAL BLOCKS, SIX HOME OWNERSHIP BLOCKS, TWO DISCIPLINED SERVICES BLOCKS AND HOUSES A POPULATION OF NEARLY 25.200.

WAS JOINED

TUNG. AND

AFTER UNVEILING A COMMEMORATIVE PLAQUE, SIR DAVID BY SIR DAVID AKERS-JONES, THE DIRECTOR OF HOUSING, MR FUNG THE CHAIRMAN OF THE SHA TIN DISTRICT BOARD, MR CHOY KAN-PUI, TO PLANT A FLOWERING MAGNOLIA TREE TO MARK THE OCCASION.

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