TNAG-0317-FCO40-353-Policy-of-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-problem-of-s-1971 — Page 38

HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

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MR. LO:-Very depressed because I don't think really, Mr. Chairman, this is an answer to this question, Mr. SALES' question. How many people are there in other categories eligible for resettlement who are still waiting for accommodation?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Well, the answer is "I don't know", Sir.

MR. LO: Well, I must say that has the advantage of being briefer.

CHAIRMAN: -Mr. Lo, what the Housing Board has said amplifies those categories in addition to squatters who might be eligible in the next few years for resettlement.

MR. LO:-Well I think it is a very good answer to what might happen in the next six years, but it is a very bad answer to the people there today.

MR. SALES: -May I ask a supplementary question on Part (a), before I go to part (b). There were nearly 90,000 structures which were registered at the time of the Working Party's report, so only 12,467 structures have been cleared for resettlement. Are we to understand that the impact of our clearances is so small that there are still 77,240 left for clearance?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-There are still 77,240 struc- tures tolerated up to date.

MR. SALES: Tolerated for various reasons or because the land is not required for redevelopment?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mainly because the land is not required for redevelopment.

MR. Lo:-Mr. Chairman, may I ask a supplementary on (b) again?

CHAIRMAN:-I don't think Mr. SALES has cleared (a) yet, Mr. Lo.

MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, the point I am making in asking these questions is that no matter how impressive our programme may have been, we have made very little impact on the total problem of housing. This is in a nutshell what I am trying to prove with my questions today and the answers that have been given me so far only serve to prove my point. No matter how impressive the programme has been in the way of construction of these structures, yet the dent on the whole prob- lem is not as great as we would like it to be. This is the point. Now

part (b) referred to the other categories apart from the squatters, and I would yield the floor to my friend Mr. T. S. Lo to ask supplementaries before I do.