XN000022-1995-11-15 — Page 31

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At the end of September 1995, the number of applicants on the Waiting List stood at about 149,000. Despite our initiatives to increase home ownership, we expect to continue to receive new applications to join the Waiting List at the rate of 1,900 households a month in the foreseeable future. This will add about 125,000 households to the Waiting List between now and April 2001, making in theory a grand total of 274,000 by that date. However, as I said in my speech in this Council on 2 November during the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Governor, we shall be helped in dealing with this large number of applicants by the historical trend that many of those persons who join the Waiting List are eventually found not eligible, or are rehoused through other schemes or quotas. This accounts for nearly half of all applicants on the Waiting List.

On past trends, the percentage of eligible applicants who actually take up public rental flats is about 54% of the total. We can therefore reduce the figure of 274,000 by 46% to give a total of about 148,000 effective applicants. From this we can subtract the figure of 92,000 new and refurbished flats which we intend to make available to applicants during the period between October 1995 and April 2001. This will leave us with an effective Waiting List in April 2001 of about 56,000, compared with an effective Waiting List of about 80,400 at the end of September 1995. The waiting time after 2001 will be proportionately reduced by 30% from seven years at present to under five years. This implies, of course, that the Government and the Housing Authority will continue to make adequate provision for new housing production in the years after 2001.

The average waiting time for different categories of applicant on the Waiting List, including private housing tenants, is the same. The commitment to a waiting time of less than five years is an average in respect of all eligible applicants.

End/Wednesday, November 15, 1995

Railway Development Strategy

Following is a question by the Hon Lau Chin-shek and a reply by the Secretary for Transport, Mr Haider Barma, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

In regard to the Railway Development Strategy, will the Government inform this Council of the following: