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development that the clearance programme is scheduled many months in advance and multi-storey resettlement blocks are frequently allocated for future clearances even before they rise from the ground. Any programme for clearance of squatters not occupying land required for development will interrupt and delay the overall development of Hong Kong. However, pavement squatters are resettled or resited from time to time when the pavement or adjacent buildings are required for development. Without knowing specifically which pavements the question refers to I am unable to say whether there are any proposals for development of the particular area which will result in clearance of the pavement squatters. This Department of course has no responsibility for street sleepers who camp out on pavements.
DR. LEE:- Mr. Chairman, I would gladly supply the Commissioner for Resettlement with the names of the streets concerned. They are: Kom Tsun Street, Yee Kuk Street, and the parallel streets on the left-hand side of Castle Peak Road.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Mr. Chairman, these streets are in Cheung Sha Wan and not in Lai Chi Kok.
DR. LEE:- A supplementary question. Can the Commissioner for Resettlement give this Council a satisfactory answer as to when these huts may be resettled, because of the health risk they cause, in view of their closeness to cooked food stalls?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- I am afraid, Mr. Chairman, I am not in a position to give a reply.
MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-
The Director of Public Works has recently indicated that public housing over the next five years will be provided for 875,000 persons:
(a) In view of this tremendous programme for public housing expansion, will the Director of Urban Services please advise whether his Department is prepared to recommend the enacting of by-laws to control, as a first step, those cases of gross overcrowding which are very serious public health and fire hazards.
(b) Will the Deputy Director of Medical and Health Services please advise this Council of the views of his Department in regard to this matter?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:-
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In reply to the first part of the question, powers do in fact exist under section 87(1) of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance to deal with, as a statutory nuisance, premises used for human habitation which are so overcrowded as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of the inmates. No by-laws have yet been made under section 88 of the Ordinance to control overcrowding generally. I think it would be premature for the department to recommend the enactment of legislation which in its operation might mean the eviction of large numbers of people from their homes. I suggest that the proposed expansion of public housing over the next five years is likely to provide a more effective answer to the problem of overcrowding, geared as it is to population densities applicable to local circumstances.
In reply to the second part of the question, my friend the Deputy Director of Medical and Health Services has been unable to attend today's meeting, but he has informed me that the problem of overcrowding is naturally a matter of great concern in the prevention of epidemic and endemic disease. He is of the opinion that however desirable it may be to control overcrowding by means of legislation, force of circumstances would appear to make it impracticable to proceed with the matter at present, other than on the basis of a statutory nuisance.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, I wish to ask a supplementary in regard to the last part of your reply where you stated that it would appear to be undesirable at the present time to proceed with gross overcrowding except on the basis of statutory nuisances. Has any action been taken along such lines recently?
CHAIRMAN:- No, Sir. I understand that no action has been taken under section 87(1) of the Ordinance for some years.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- I asked this in particular, Mr. Chairman, as I would like to mention by way of explanation that I have heard medical officers themselves saying that they visited premises where between 80 to 100 persons are living chock-a-block in a flat. These are cases of gross overcrowding and I am just wondering whether consideration could be given by the Department to investigate such cases and to recommend to the particular Select Committees concerned whether or not they should be tackled on the basis of statutory nuisances as you have mentioned. I would also like to ask another supplementary. You mentioned that the more effective answer to the problem of overcrowding in Hong Kong would be to proceed along the proposed expansion
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development that the clearance programme is scheduled many months in advance and multi-storey resettlement blocks are frequently allocated for future clearances even before they rise from the ground. Any programme for clearance of squatters not occupying land required for development will interrupt and delay the overall develop- ment of Hong Kong. However, pavement squatters are resettled or resited from time to time when the pavement or adjacent buildings are required for development. With- out knowing specifically which pavements the question refers to I am unable to say whether there are any pro- posals for development of the particular area which will result in clearance of the pavement squatters. This Department of course has no responsibility for street sleepers who camp out on pavements.
DR. LEE:-Mr. Chairman, I would gladly supply the Commissioner for Resettlement with the names of the streets concerned. They are: Kom Tsun Street, Yee Kuk Street, and the parallel streets on the left- hand side of Castle Peak Road.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, these streets are in Cheung Sha Wan and not in Lai Chi Kok.
DR. LEE:-A supplementary question. Can the Commissioner for Resettlement give this Council a satisfactory answer as to when these buts may be resettled, because of the health risk they cause, in view of their closeness to cooked food stalls?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-I am afraid, Mr. Chairman,
I am not in a position to give a reply.
MR. H. CHEONG-LEEN asked the following question:-
The Director of Public Works has recently indicated that public housing over the next five years will be provided for 875,000 persons :
(a) In view of this tremendous programme for public housing expansion, will the Director of Urban Services please advise whether his Department is prepared to recommend the enacting of by-laws to control, as a first step, those cases of gross overcrowding which are very serious public health and fire hazards. (b) Will the Deputy Director of Medical and Health Services please advise this Council of the views of his Department in regard to this matter?
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
THE CHAIRMAN replied as follows:-
163
In reply to the first part of the question, powers do in fact exist under section 87(1) of the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance to deal with, as a statutory nuisance, premises used for human habitation which are so over- crowded as to be dangerous or injurious to the health of the inmates. No by-laws have yet been made under sec- tion 88 of the Ordinance to control overcrowding generally. I think it would be premature for the department to re- commend the enactment of legislation which in its opera- tion might mean the eviction of large numbers of people from their homes. I suggest that the proposed expansion of public housing over the next five years is likely to pro- vide a more effective answer to the problem of overcrowd- ing, geared as it is to population densities applicable to local circumstances.
In reply to the second part of the question, my friend the Deputy Director of Medical and Health Services has been unable to attend today's meeting, but he has informed me that the problem of overcrowding is naturally a matter of great concern in the prevention of epidemic and endemic disease. He is of the opinion that however desirable it may be to control overcrowding by means of legislation, force of circumstances would appear to make it impractic- able to proceed with the matter at present, other than on the basis of a statutory nuisance.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, I wish to ask a supplementary in regard to the last part of your reply where you stated that it would appear to be undesirable at the present time to proceed with gross overcrowding except on the basis of statutory nuisances. Has any action been taken along such lines recently?
CHAIRMAN:-No, Sir. I understand that no action has been taken under section 87(1) of the Ordinance for some years.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: --I asked this in particular, Mr. Chairman, as I would like to mention by way of explanation that I have heard medical officers themselves saying that they visited premises where between 80 to 100 persons are living chock-a-block in a flat. These are cases of gross overcrowding and I am just wondering whether consideration could be given by the Department to investigate such cases and to recommend to the particular Select Committees concerned whether or not they should be tackled on the basis of statutory nuisances as you have mentioned. I would also like to ask another supplementary. You mentioned that the more effective answer to the problem of overcrowd- ing in Hong Kong would be to proceed along the proposed expansion
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