1962 — Page 83

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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL

Secondly, it is now time to consider the broader aspect of relating private development with slum clearance. As I have said previously, too many pre-war tenements are being quickly demolished, only to be replaced by much larger buildings which from the outside may look modern and attractive, but which in reality are just as overcrowded inside, and quite unsatisfactory from the point of public health and hygiene.

Land is a scarce commodity in Hong Kong, and if the community is to obtain the optimum value on existing building sites, a slum clearance and redevelopment ordinance should be enacted to permit Government to put forward redevelopment schemes, in which property owners should be given every opportunity and assistance to carry out the redevelop- ment required. This would partially reduce the present uneconomic practice of piece-meal development by individual property owners, a practice which is particularly noticeable in the slum areas, such as Wan Chai and Sham Shui Po.

Thirdly, it should be possible for Government to work out in any slum clearance and redevelopment scheme a system of decanting where- by existing tenants could be decanted within the vicinity as development progressively takes place. Most tenants in old buildings which are about to be demolished do not care so much for compensation, as for the opportunity to be rehoused at reasonable rentals.

Fourthly, the question of raising additional funds for public housing or for slum clearance schemes is an important one. Property owners should be assisted by Government in the obtaining of loans from banks and other financial institutions at reasonable interest rates in any re- development and slum clearance scheme. I would suggest that if des pite the hefty annual budget surplus, Government still cannot secure the necessary finance for a comprehensive housing programme, then it should either float a loan or seek to borrow from another international agency, such as the Agency for International Development. After all, what better recommendation can we have than from the World Bank which has turned down an application for a loan to complete our water supply scheme on the grounds that we are too financially solvent?

In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would remark that since a year or so ago we have been listening to official pronouncements on a five-year budget forecast, a ten-year water development scheme, a five-year reset- tlement programme, a seven-year traffic improvement scheme, a ten-year medical plan, etc. Is it not time for Government to formulate, through a public body such as the Urban Council or the Housing Authority, an overall housing development programme for the next ten years?

This is a matter concerning which the Urban Council is vitally interested, as from the point of view of public health and hygiene, we

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would like to see within this decade every Hong Kong family living in decent domestic accommodation with a minimum standard of 35

sq. ft. per person in floor space.

Mr. Chairman, I now formally move the motion as tabled.

(At this point, Mr. K. A. WATSON left the meeting)

DR. P. F. Woo:-Mr. Chairman, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has as usual spoken at great length on the motion, leaving very little for me to add about the urgency of providing more low-cost housing in Hong Kong. In seconding his motion, therefore, I have to be very brief. There is Overcrowding no doubt that better housing leads to better health. breeds diseases, a notable example of which is Pulmonary Tuberculosis. The high incidence of this No. One Killer disease is attributable to overcrowdedness especially in the Chinese tenement houses where families are packed together, and lack of good ventilation and living spaces has made diseases easily communicable.

In recent years more than half of the pre-war houses have been reconstructed, but on account of the high rental people have been forced to pack together in these new buildings. Thus in spite of the rapid increase in the number of new houses there is no decrease in the degree of overcrowdedness, and indeed the only difference is that over- crowdedness has shifted from one area to another. In one of the Environmental Hygiene Committee meetings, the Department has been asked to make a survey of the overcrowdedness in new buildings, but the report has not yet been produced. This survey would assist the Council to decide whether we should enforce Section 87 (1) of the 1960 Public Health Ordinance which deals with overcrowding as a nuisance.

Government spends a colossal amount of money every year for anti-Tuberculosis purposes, but unless the serious problem of over- crowdedness in the densely populated areas can be solved, Tuberculosis will still find its way to spread among the population, and the amount of money spent on anti-Tuberculosis purposes will be in vain.

Resettlement caters for a special category of the community, and so far the work done on this is satisfactory. As for low-cost housing for low-salaried people generally, the Housing Authority, Housing Society and Government Low-Cost Housing Schemes have together, during the past seven years, completed less than 20,000 flats which give the minimum standard of 35 square feet of living space per person. This figure of 20,000 is obviously highly inadequate in view of our large population. The "inadequate housing" referred to in the Census Report, to my mind, no doubt refers to families in the Chinese tenement houses in post-war as well as pre-war buildings.