Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1960-1961 — Page 12

MARINE DEPARTMENT LIBRAR.

(b) Clearances during the year

23. Clearances for resettlement estates took a large place in the year's work. Most of the site for the large Wang Tau Hom Estate had been cleared the previous year, but the three final phases were cleared during 1960-61. This was followed by a clearance of 10.56 acres imme- diately to the south of Wang Tau Hom, which is formed and used for an extension to the Lo Fu Ngam Resettlement Estate and for other purposes; this area was cleared in 9 phases and 14,089 squatters were resettled from it. Nearly 5 acres were cleared for an extension to Wong Tai Sin Estate which will consist of 8 blocks. In addition there were 3 small clearances made necessary by engineering works in connexion with the Kwun Tong and Li Cheng Uk Estates.

24. Approximately 60 acres were cleared for roads, reservoirs, drains, port works and other engineering works. These included more than 28 acres cleared for a group of service reservoirs being built below Lion Rock in connexion with the Plover Cove Scheme. Land was cleared for new roads to Kwun Tong, and from Kwun Tong to Yau Tong, for the widening of Shatin Pass Road, for the reconstruction of Waterloo Road and for the extension of Tong Mei Road and of Pratas Street. The Tong Mei Road clearance led to the resettlement of 1,600 squatters, while the new road from Kwun Tong to Yau Tong required the clearance of 13 acres of cultivation.

25. The largest clearance for housing, other than for resettlement housing, was for the Housing Authority's new estate on the Clear Water Bay Road. The clearance was complicated owing to the variety of purposes for which the land was used, including not only squatters and cultivation, but also 34 factories and 16 scrap-yards; and a large part of the area consisted of private agricultural lots which had first to be resumed. The clearance was completed in 4 phases and altogether 2,223 persons were cleared from 37 acres of land, over $500,000 being paid to cultivators as ex-gratia compensation. Other clearances for housing were for the Housing Authority's estate at Ma Tau Wei Chuen, for local civil servants housing schemes at Tai Hang Road and Sycamore Street and for a pensioners' housing scheme at Pak Kung Street.

26. Sites were cleared for nine new schools. Six of these were near the Shek Kip Mei and Tai Hang Tung Estates, the three at Shek Kip Mei being sites previously occupied by emergency 2-storey buildings known as 'Bowring Bungalows'. The three remaining sites were for a Government Junior Secondary School at Fuk Wah Street, for a Govern-

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