TNAG-0270-FCO40-306-Policy-on-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-1971 — Page 61

Copy of letter of 4th July 1969 from the Chairman of the Housing Board

Annex B

to XCR(70) 303

Sir,

4th July 1969.

Government Low Cost Housing at Kwai Chung

In the Housing Board's 1968 Report reference was made to the difficulty likely to arise in effecting the voluntary movement of very large numbers of people from the present urban areas to Kwai Chung where, because of the shortage of other sites, so much of the Government Low Cost Housing programme is concentrated. For this reason the Board recommended that the then current Government Low Cost Housing programme should be extended over a further year to 31st March 1974.

2"

A new waiting list for Government Low Cost Housing was opened on 1st April 1969. Out of some 17,600 applications received up to 20th June 1969, only some 1,300 were for the Tsuen Wan area and all of the applicants could be accommodated in Low Cost Housing accommodation which has already been built and is lying vacant at the Shek Yam Estate, Tsuen Wan.

A further indication of the general reluctance of people to move even from poor accommodation can also be seen from the recent offer of larger rooms in the new Pak Tin Resettlement Estate to grossly overcrowded families in nearby resettlement estates where some 30% of such families refused the offer. Since Pak Tin Estate could hardly have been more favourably located for the purpose of relieving overcrowding on nearby estates this would suggest that voluntary movement from the urban areas to the relatively distant Kwai Chung area is likely to build up slowly as the industrial sites there are developed. The rate of build up will be influenced by many factors; one factor which is likely to weigh heavily with settlers in the early stages of development is the disproportion between public transport fares to Tsuen Wan of 50 cents as compared with 20 cents to other industrial areas no less distant from Kowloon such as Kwun Tong.

3.

Government Low Cost Housing estates presently under construction at Kwai Chung will provide accommodation for over 120,000 people and tenders are being invited for Kwai Fong Estate which will accommodate a further 42,500. The Board considers that, having regard to further industrial expansion at Kwai Chung and to housing needs generally, housing on the scale envisaged in the current Low Cost Housing programme at Kwai Chung (260,000 people) will be required in time. However, the Board takes the view that there is a real danger of the speed of building outstripping the rate at which Government Low Cost Housing at Kwai Chung is likely to be filled. It may also be that the proportion of Government Low Cost Housing at Kwai Chung is too high to achieve a proper balance of popu- lation in various income groups. This latter aspect has still to be considered in detail but it is hoped to reach some conclusion in time for the Board's 1969 Report. Meanwhile, however, the Board would recommend that the calling for tenders for the building of the remaining estates in the programme (i.e. Lai King, Kwai Shing II/III and part of Lei Muk Shue Estate) should be deferred until the likely overall demand and the time-scale of that demand can be established with greater accuracy. This will afford an opportunity to re-examine the detailed planning and nature of the accommodation to be provided in these future estates in the light of more recent surveys into housing and social requirements.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient servant,

Så. J.P. Aserappa

Chairman, Housing Board.

The Honourable Colonial Secretary,

Colonial Secretariat,

Central Government Offices, HONG KONG.