Page 84
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
would benefit in the long run to accelerate the public housing programme for, once adequate housing could be provided to everyone, diseases would decrease, and this would mean savings in the current expenditure in the Medical and Health Services Department.
With these few remarks, Mr. Chairman, I have pleasure in seconding the motion.
MR. A. de O. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, when I first heard of Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's intention to put this motion before the Council, I suggested that if it were for the purpose of elucidating the position it could have been put as a question, this being August, a month when we normally go into recess. Nevertheless, it has become the hottest August that any Chairman of the Urban Council has ever experienced.
We all work in the Resettlement Policy Select Committee. We are all members of the Housing Authority. We are conscious more than any section of the public of the tremendous effort that has been made in Hong Kong to find accommodation for the people who have chosen to come here to live with us. Having had the opportunity of seeing housing schemes in several parts of the world and visiting resettlement areas of refugees, I say, without fear of being contradicted, that the housing programme which is carried out in Hong Kong is without peer in the world for the size of our population and the area in which we live. Mr. Chairman, I believe that up to the present time 470,000 people have been accommodated by our Resettlement Department, and I think that in 10 years' time, just over one million persons will have been accommodated by the Resettlement Department, in addition to which we have now the new low-cost housing programme, part of which was prompted by Members of this Council. That, I think, is working at the rate of about 100,000 people a year. But above all, as Members of the Housing Authority we know for sure that a 10-year plan has been drawn up, at the end of which the Hong Kong Housing Authority will have spent $400 million to house just under 300,000 persons and by the time that programme has been implemented by natural growth alone, the population will have been 400,000 in all the estates of the Hong Kong Housing Authority. That is only one phase of a magnificent programme of public housing, the like of which, I am sure, we cannot find anywhere in the world for this size of population.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to suggest to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, because I appreciate that Mr. CHEONG-LEEN is in earnest and the importance of Hilton being in earnest must never be under-estimated, that we, as Members of the Urban Council, should examine objectively our housing programme in all its aspects and try to refrain from stampeding any phase of it, because housing must be part of an orderly development of our services in the field of education, medicine, and so on. All our ambitions must be related to our resources; cutting coat according to cloth should never be overlooked. I am sure, Mr. Chairman, that Mr. CHEONG-LEEN would like Hong Kong to have a well-tailored appearance without the right sleeve being longer than the left, the right lapel wider than the left, and so on. If we concentrate our resources on housing alone, we are likely to have a lop-sided development, which, I am sure, none of us would like to see. Mr. Chairman, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has so innocuously worded his motion that no one can really quarrel with it from the viewpoint of hygiene which is the device he uses to introduce it in this Council. We cannot object, but I would only like to say that Urban Councillors should not overlook the effort that has been made and should be the last persons to stampede Government into further action, because housing 2.4 millions by 1972 is certainly no mean achievement and I am proud of being a citizen of no mean city like St. Paul was in his time.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. WILFRED WONG:-Mr. Chairman, in urging Government to accelerate its public housing programme in order to alleviate the inadequate housing situation, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has spoken on a motion, on which no one could or should disagree. I have no hesitation in supporting the motion.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: --Mr. Chairman, I have a list of notes here of items that I wished to mention in general, but Mr. SALES has anticipated them, and being a very much more practised speaker than I am, he has put them a lot better than I could have done. But I think that I can add some figures which improve on what Mr. Sales has offered.
Over the next five years Government will be spending and subsidizing construction to a total of $650 million in order to re-house 850,000 persons-that is, at the rate of 170,000 people a year. At the same time, private developers, who last year completed domestic accommodation to the value of $160 million, are expected, according to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, to house 90,000 people a year, and I think that they will at least do that. If that rate is maintained, and there is no sign of any slackening as yet, the combined effort by private developers and by Government should produce housing for no less than 1.3 million people in the next 5 years.
The possibility of building 16-storey resettlement blocks is now under consideration. If these come into being, the figures which I have given for Government housing should be improved.
I agree with the remarks by Mr. SALES and would stress that too much new building, whether Government or private, brings in train
Page 85
152
153
Page 84 of 150
50
Page 84.
152
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
would benefit in the long run to accelerate the public housing pro- I would like to point out that Government should realize that it
gramme for, once adequate housing could be provided to everyone, diseases would decrease, and this would mean savings in the current expenditure in the Medical and Health Services Department.
With these few remarks, Mr. Chairman, I have pleasure in second- ing the motion.
MR. A. de O. SALES: -Mr. Chairman, when I first heard of Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's intention to put this motion before the Council, I suggested that if it were for the purpose of elucidating the position it could have been put as a question, this being August, a month when we normally go into recess. Nevertheless, it has become the hottest August that any Chairman of the Urban Council has ever experienced.
We all work in the Resettlement Policy Select Committee. We are all members of the Housing Authority. We are conscious more than any section of the public of the tremendous effort that has been made in Hong Kong to find accommodation for the people who have chosen to come here to live with us. Having had the opportunity of seeing housing schemes in several parts of the world and visiting resettlement areas of refugees, I say, without fear of being contradicted, that the housing programme which is carried out in Hong Kong is without peer in the world for the size of our population and the area in which we live. Mr. Chairman, I believe that up to the present time 470,000 people have been accommodated by our Resettlement Department, and I think that in 10 years' time, just over one million persons will have been accommodated by the Resettlement Department, in addition to which we have now the new low-cost housing programme, part of which was prompted by Members of this Council. That, I think, is working at the rate of about 100,000 people a year. But above all, as Members of the Housing Authority we know for sure that a 10-year plan has been drawn up, at the end of which the Hong Kong Housing Authority will have spent $400 million to house just under 300,000 persons and by the time that programme has been implemented by natural growth alone, the population will have been 400,000 in all the estates of the Hong Kong Housing Authority. That is only one phase of a magnificent programme of public housing, the like of which, I am sure. we cannot find anywhere in the world for this size of population.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to suggest to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, because I appreciate that Mr. CHEONG-LEEN is in earnest and the importance of Hilton being in earnest must never be under-estimated, that we, as Members of the Urban Council, should examine objectively our housing programme in all its aspects and try to refrain from stampeding any phase of it, because housing must be part of an orderly
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
153
development of our services in the field of education, medicine, and so on. All our ambitions must be related to our resources; cutting coat according to cloth should never be overlooked. I am sure, Mr. Chair- man, that Mr. CHEONG-LEEN would like Hong Kong to have a well- tailored appearance without the right sleeve being longer than the left, the right lapel wider than the left, and so on. If we concentrate our resources on housing alone, we are likely to have a lop-sided develop- ment, which, I am sure, none of us would like to see. Mr. Chairman, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has so innocuously worded his motion that no one can really quarrel with it from the viewpoint of hygiene which is the device he uses to introduce it in this Council. We cannot object, but I would only like to say that Urban Councillors should not overlook the effort that has been made and should be the last persons to stampede Government into further action, because housing 24 millions by 1972 is certainly no mean achievement and I am proud of being a citizen of no mean city like St. Paul was in his time.
MR. WILFRED WONG:-Mr. Chairman, in urging Government to accelerate its public housing programme in order to alleviate the inadequate housing situation, Mr. CHEONG-LEEN has spoken on a motion, on which no one could or should disagree. I have no hesitation in supporting the motion.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: --Mr. Chairman, I have a list of notes here of items that I wished to mention in general, but Mr. SALES has anticipated them, and being a very much more practised speaker than I am, he has put them a lot better than I could have done. But I think that I can add some figures which improve on what Mr. Sales has offered.
Over the next five years Government will be spending and sub- sidizing construction to a total of $650 million in order to re-house 850,000 persons-that is, at the rate of 170,000 people a year. At the same time, private developers, who last year completed domestic accommodation to the value of $160 million, are expected, according to Mr. CHEONG-LEEN, to house 90,000 people a year, and I think that they will at least do that. If that rate is maintained, and there is no sign of any slackening as yet, the combined effort by private developers and by Government should produce housing for no less than 1.3 million people in the next 5 years.
The possibility of building 16-storey resettlement blocks is now under consideration. If these come into being, the figures which I have given for Government housing should be improved.
I agree with the remarks by Mr. SALES and would stress that too much new building, whether Government or private, brings in train
Page 84 of 150
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.