Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1956-1957 — Page 13

munity in particular schools, housing, factories, and public works projects for new roads, drains and water supply systems.

17. Land cannot however be freed of squatters until alter- native domestic accommodation can be provided and by the 1st April, 1956 it had been conclusively proved that the con- struction of multi-storey resettlement estates was the only practical method of providing this accommodation on the scale needed. It was also by then clear that the very large number of sites required for the Colony's expansion, nearly all of which were occupied by squatters, meant that the development of resettlement estates would have to continue at maximum speed for a number of years to come.

18. When the year opened building works were proceeding on the three partially completed multi-storey estates at Shek Kip Mei, Tai Hang Tung and Li Cheng Uk. The Tai Hang Tung estate was completed in April 1956 and since then has been providing accommodation for 38,000 persons. The Li Cheng Uk estate for 40,000 persons was finished in January 1957.

19. The Shek Kip Mei Redevelopment Scheme continued to make good progress and by the end of the year multi-storey accommodation had been completed for more than 19,000 persons who had formerly been living in the 2-storey temporary buildings erected by the Government immediately after the fire of December 1953. All these buildings are to be demolished by stages and replaced by 7-storey buildings. The final result will be not only that 5,000 more persons can be accommodated on the same site, but that over 7 acres of land now occupied by 2-storey buildings will be made available for two large schools, one large Government polyclinic and three large and much-needed recreation spaces.

20. This rapid progress was not however achieved on the sites for two more estates, at Hunghom and Lo Fu Ngam, where large quantities of hard rock have been encountered during the site formation work. Three of the four blocks at Hunghom had however been completed by January 1957, al- though many of the rooms could not be occupied owing to the

7