63. The land for this scheme will be in addition to the land required for the public housing programme. We aim to allocate the first sites in 1993/94. Because of the time lag in developing new housing projects, the first units will not be available until 1995/96. Obviously, to wait another three years for assistance from this scheme is not good enough. So, I propose that, in the meantime, we should buy flats from the private sector to sell to the sandwich class at affordable prices. We hope to offer 1 000 flats during the first year of operation. This interim plan will be discontinued as soon as flats from the long term scheme become available.
THE ENVIRONMENTAL PRIORITIES
64. There is little point in having more and more comfortable homes if we allow the environment in which we live to continue on a downward spiral of neglect and degradation. We cannot go on poisoning the air we breathe and the food we eat. We cannot go on dumping filth into the water which we drink and in which we swim.
65. The level of pollution in Hong Kong is particularly surprising because, unlike many other cities, this community does not vandalise its public housing, its MTR, or its other community facilities. We value these public assets. Why, therefore, do we go on vandalising our environment? We cannot escape the accusation that the environment is the one striking failure by Hong Kong's normal standards of success. Let me give you just two of the sobering statistics:
—we may have the tallest and finest buildings in Asia, but right next to them, we have a harbour into which we discharge 1.5 million cubic metres of untreated sewage and industrial waste every day;
we may have some of the best natural parks in the world, but we dump 1200 cubic metres of livestock waste into our rivers and streams each day.
This daily discharge of filth has poisoned our rivers and streams, almost extinguished marine life in the harbour and has become a serious hazard to public health. It has to stop. We have to take responsibility for addressing this problem. We cannot pass the buck to generations to come. If you will excuse the pun, the muck stops here.
66. The scale of the task is big. But for a city like Hong Kong it is hardly overwhelming. We have the technology to act. We have the
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