Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1955-1956 — Page 29

the number to 40,000. In December, 1955 a start was made on the clearance of a further 19,000 persons, of whom 13,100 had actually been cleared and resettled in Li Cheng Uk Estate by the end of March, 1956.

48. The operations themselves can best be described in terms of the old village names in the area. Starting at the east end, 2,500 persons were cleared from Sheung Li Uk to free land required for a further extension to Li Cheng Uk Estate. This operation has been described in detail in Chapter II. To the west, 2,400 persons were cleared from what was left of the Li Cheng Uk squatter area to provide 14 acres of land for new schools, and for a variety of welfare and community projects. In So Uk, 5,400 squatters were cleared from part of the 16 acre site for the Housing Authority's first low-cost housing scheme in Kowloon. At the western end 2,800 persons were cleared from the Fuk Wah squatter area to provide sites for dangerous goods and storage godowns. In addition these four operations enabled the Public Works Department to go ahead with several road, drainage and waterworks schemes. They also removed for all time the possibility of further large squatter fires in this area.

49. At the same time as the operations just described, the Mobile Resettlement Unit cleared 3,200 squatters from 15 acres of land in various other parts of northern Kowloon. In Shamshuipo and Mong Kok several clearances were carried out to release land for sale, and to enable the Public Works Department to proceed with road and drainage schemes associated with new building development. In the same area sites were freed for two new schools, and for the proposed resettlement factory block referred to in paragraph 34. Other small operations took place near Kowloon City, in connexion with the extension of Kai Tak Airport, and at Kun Tong, where a further clearance had to be undertaken so as not to delay the completion of new factory sites. Nearly all these squatters were resettled in Tai Hang Tung Estate.

50. This Chapter has dealt so far only with clearances in northern Kowloon. During the year two important operations were however carried out on Hong Kong Island. The fact that

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