Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1969-1970 — Page 29

restaurant; the demand for these facilities had to be met. Since the ground floor shops of Mark I and II estates did not provide for this, and since the premises are small, the Select Committee agreed in 1967 that an area outside the restaurants could be covered over and used by customers. 343 permits for this purpose have been issued, at a fee of approximately 10¢ a square foot a month. Some restaurant operators however continue to use estate courtyards for cooking and food pre- paration; action is being taken against these illegalities in concert with the Urban Services Department.

75. Provision has been made for restaurants within Mark III blocks, while the Mark IV and V estates have detached annex restaurants. Two-storey restaurants of approximately 2,750 sq. ft. are now being provided in these latter estates at a ratio of 1 to 12,000 population. As with shops, it is proposed that these buildings should be leased commercially by public tender.

76. Reference has been made in paragraph 7 above to the build-up of hawkers in the estates. These hawkers, who pay no rent, and in many cases no license fee have now taken over many shop trades as for example meat and poultry, hardware and building materials, thus undercutting the legal shops. At the end of the year there were 12,793 of these hawkers in the estates, many with structures of over 100 sq. ft.; 2,333 of these carried on such illegal trades as the sale of cooked food, poultry and meat, and 437 operated within the lobbies of blocks. The Urban Council Hawker Policy Select Committee has put in much ground work on the problem in revising policy, formulating different lines of approach and in drawing up new licensing legislation. The resettlement Tidiness Teams have also stabilized the position by taking action against new hawker structures in the estates, in the course of which they demolished 3,167 such structures. Since, however, many of these traders supply a useful service to housewives in the estates, no large-scale clearance can be carried out until alternative marketing facilities are provided. Plans for building simple standard market stalls in the estates were being considered by the Urban Services Department at the end of the year.

77. During the year, three administrative offices of a new standard design were opened in Sau Mau Ping, Ham Tin and Shek Lei estates. In addition to offices for all estate staff, these buildings also include a small post office and a bank. The three bank premises concerned were let by public tender by the Public Works Department.

23