victims sheltering on the streets. During the summer of 1955 the progress of detailed planning could at last outstrip the day-to-day exigencies with which the department had been distracted since its formation. Freedom of action had been regained and the end, though still distant, was undoubtedly in sight.
CHAPTER VII
THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF MULTI-STOREY RESETTLEMENT BUILDINGS
36. It should in the first place be emphasized that the construction of permanent resettlement buildings is entirely the responsibility of the Public Works Department, and that the Resettlement Department plays no part in these affairs until it takes over the completed buildings. The more technical par- ticulars will no doubt be recorded in the annual report of the Director of Public Works, but this report would be incomplete if it did not include a brief description of the buildings and a tribute to the capability, imagination and energy of the Public Works Department officers concerned. The facts speak for themselves: during the year seventeen buildings of six and seven storeys, comprising 8,500 rooms to house 50,000 persons, were designed, completed and handed over; all this work, together with connected water supply, site formation, drainage works and road construction was completed on schedule or sooner without any increase in the architectural or engineering staff.
37. The Public Works Department had first recommended the construction of multi-storey resettlement buildings in January, 1954, and technical ideas in this field were at that time well ahead of policy. The architects who put forward these ideas were men not only versed in their own profession but also well acquainted with the Colony's social conditions and problems. Arguing from the basic land shortage which had for five years been restricting natural economic development
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