52
in September, 1947, give a good idea of the nature of the problem, although they are not relied upon as being completely accurate, at all events at the time that the Com- mittee visited the affected areas. The position shown by such lists is as follows:
Sites in other than the Tai Ping Shan area.
} {
}
Eastern District Hong Kong Western
"
Tai Ping Shan area (Bridges St., Staunton St., etc.)
Sites in other than the
Hung Hom area.
Kowloon North South
"
Hung Hom (from Winslow Street to Wuhu Street)
"
82 sites 65
149 " 67 " 122
"
220 J
A total of
705 sites.
5. According to estimates prepared by the Public Works Department in the following December, the cost of clearance of such sites (in full) would amount to some $260,000.—and, were the contractors required to salvage and stack usable materials on the sites, would probably be in the neighbourhood of $1,000,000. In view of the limited information then available these estimates cannot be regarded as being more than approximately correct. It is plain that however the cost of clearance might vary it would still be far less than the aggregate value of the areas concerned. The Com-
mittee's problems have been-
6.
(a) to account for the lack of development of these sites,
(b) to find a remedy for the undoubted danger to the health of the com-
munity caused by their non-clearance, and
(c) to endeavour to ease the housing deficiency that is partly a result of
their non-development.
(1) It has been represented strongly by the Assistant Director of Public Works that it would not be right to ignore that clearance and rebuilding is in fact proceeding apace in a large proportion of cases on the initiative of owners. To test this a re-check, at the request of the Committee, was made by the Urban Council Health Inspectors in the week ending 9th July on the basis of the lists drawn up in September last and the following three areas are quoted—
(i) In Stone Nullah Lane, Wanchai, where no less than 40 sites were, in September 1947, reported as war damaged, the survey in July showed the following position:
Reconstruction commenced or finished
Cleared of debris
No action taken
(Note:
...
36 cases
4
"
No
"
A visit since this report gives reason to think that there is in fact one site still on which no work has been done.)
(ii) In Third Street, where 55 war damaged sites had been reported in September, the position was now reported to be-
Reconstruction commenced or finished
Cleared of debris
No action taken
...
22 cases 25
8
+
(iii) Over the whole of the Eastern and Western districts of Hong Kong, exclusive of Tai Ping Shan, of a total of 147 cases reported in September last, the position in July was reported to be-
Reconstruction commenced or finished
Cleared of debris
No action taken
64 cases
65
"
18
"
(2) These figures do bear out that progress is being made by some owners, but it is to be remembered that they do not cover the area in the neighbourhood of Bridges Street, where the task is heavy and little has been done. In Kowloon where values are somewhat lower and the financial return to be obtained from clearing sites
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