TNAG-0317-FCO40-353-Policy-of-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-problem-of-s-1971 — Page 39

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

MR. LO:-Thank you, Mr. SALES. Mr. Chairman, I wonder whether the Commissioner could advise this Council what has to hap- pen, what he has to do in order to find an answer to question (b) since he hasn't got an answer now, and when this question was presumably asked with due notice, you know it would be nice if this Council knew precisely what has to take place before we can get an answer.

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I can't give an answer.

MRS. ELLIOTT:-Mr. Chairman, may I help the Commissioner by saying that I am going to give some figures in my speech.

MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I would like you to confirm to this Council that I gave almost a month's notice of these three questions?

CHAIRMAN:-That is correct, Mr. Sales.

MR. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, I am trying to establish the magnitude of our housing problem in Hong Kong, because a recent statement was made by very high authority here that in a decade or so the public sector's intervention in housing in Hong Kong might well come to an end, and I doubt on the strength of the figures Government has furnished to this Council today whether this public housing programme or state-aided housing programme can ever come to an end in Hong Kong. This is what I said 13 years ago when I first joined the Council and it has been said by other Members. We will all repeat today that Government cannot shirk its responsibility for housing the people here. Thank you for letting me make a speech ahead of time. (Laughter).

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, does the Resettlement Depart- ment have an estimate of the number of illegal structures, apart from those which now exist in resettlement estates? I am referring to the figure of 77,000 odd, 77,240 which are tolerated. Does the Resettle- ment Department have an estimate of the number of illegal structures, that is structures which are not tolerated?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-No, as soon as a new illegal structure put up after 1964 is discovered it will be demolished and action will be taken. There shouldn't be any at all.

MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-In theory, yes, and those which do come to the notice of the Department presumably are demolished. Certainly the Department, and I am referring to Senior Department officials, must have an estimate of the number of structures which should not be tolerated but still in fact exist. Isn't there some figure?

COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-We have figures for how many demolition operations we do during the year.