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Resettlement Housing programme. The alternative is, of course, to find outlying or hillside land which is clear of permittees, but it is land of this sort which takes so many years to form and get ready to receive buildings.
Future prospects are good. We completed over 4,000 domestic rooms (20,000 persons) last month and we have a further 34 blocks, with accommodation for 60,000 under construction. All these should be completed without difficulty during the current financial year. During the course of this year we expect to let further building contracts for over 100 blocks, with accommodation for more than 150,000 people. Not all these 100 blocks will be completed during the year but quite a number should be. In this connexion, I am sure that Members will appreciate that the decision to build 16-storey blocks must result in a temporary slowing down of the rate of completion and occupation. 16-storey blocks will take about twice as long to build as 8-storey blocks, and they cannot be occupied until completed.
The other form of housing with which the Public Works Department is actively concerned is Government Low Cost Housing. Building and site formation works are in hand on five estates with a population potential of 90,000; and planning is in hand on a further seven sites with a population potential of 110,000. We expect to complete about 7,000 flats with accommodation for over 30,000 people this year.
Mr. Chairman, I should like to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to the enthusiasm and industry of the professional and technical officers of the Public Works Department who are working on the Resettlement and Low Cost Housing projects. The staff available for this work is small, but their output is amazing. It is worthy of note that in spite of the general tendency for building costs to rise over the past few years, the unit costs of Mark I and Mark II Resettlement Blocks (that is, those with external balcony access) have remained steady since the first blocks were built at Shek Kip Mei in 1954. In fact, tendered rates for 1962 were below the average for the previous seven years.
In saying that the present programme to resettle 100,000 persons per year does not keep up with the natural growth in population, Mrs. Elliot appears to be under the impression that Resettlement is the only form of Government housing. This is not so; the sum total of Government aided housing (Housing Authority, Housing Society, Resettlement and Government Low Cost Housing) is likely to accommodate 850,000 people in the next five years - an average of over 170,000 per year.
This figure excludes the contribution of private enterprise. The information given in the 1962 Annual Report to the effect that private enterprise has provided accommodation for 85,000 people during the past seven years is incorrect; the correct figure is 585,000.
I cannot understand Mr. Watson's reference to Government regulations which do not allow private enterprise to build the type of housing which Government itself thinks is most needed for the low income groups. There is nothing to prevent private enterprise building the same type and size of self-contained flat as is being built by the Housing Authority and the Housing Society.
In regard to heights and densities I would remind Mr. Watson of the Building (Planning) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 1962 whereby developers have a choice of building low with a high site coverage or high with a low site coverage. The higher the building, the greater the permitted plot ratio, which goes up to a maximum of 8 for ordinary sites or 10 for corner sites. Translated into population densities at 35 sq. ft. per person of living space these plot ratios mean 5,000 and 6,250 persons per net acre respectively. I cannot believe that Mr. Watson advocates population densities even higher than these; they must surely be high enough to give private enterprise all the encouragement that they could hope for.
I support Mr. Sales when he pleads for more public open space in the congested residential areas of the Western District. I sincerely hope that we shall be able to devise a satisfactory and acceptable scheme for providing public playgrounds of reasonable size to make up for the present deficiency.
In Kowloon we are working on a plan which will embrace the whole of Tsim Sha Tsui and the new Hung Hom Reclamation. This area includes Whitfield Barracks and the Railway lands referred to by Mr. Sales. Before publishing this plan it is the intention of the Town Planning Board to send it together with a statement of principles upon which it has been based to the Urban Council and other public bodies. I hope that this Council will take advantage of this opportunity to let the Town Planning Board have their criticisms and their ideas on the planning of this very important area.
The Honourable F. S. Li spoke of building sites and the annoyance or danger that they can cause. In October, 1962 the Building (Demolition Works) Regulations came into operation. These Regulations are designed to ensure that demolition works are carried out in such a way as to be least likely to cause accidents. Apart from the provisions which require shoring or other means to prevent accidental collapse, the regulations require that demolition works must be supervised by an experienced person and carried out by experienced workmen acting under the direction of a competent foreman.
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Resettlement Housing programme. The alternative is, of course, to find outlying or hillside land which is clear of permittees, but it is land of this sort which takes so many years to form and get ready to receive buildings.
Future prospects are good. We completed over 4,000 domestic rooms (20,000 persons) last month and we have a further 34 blocks, with accommodation for 60,000 under construction. All these should be completed without difficulty during the current financial year. During the course of this year we expect to let further building contracts for over 100 blocks, with accommodation for more than 150,000 people. Not all these 100 blocks will be completed during the year but quite a number should be. In this connexion, I am sure that Members will appreciate that the decision to build 16-storey blocks must result in a temporary slowing down of the rate of completion and occupation. 16-storey blocks will take about twice as long to build as 8-storey blocks, and they cannot be occupied until completed.
The other form of housing with which the Public Works Depart- ment is actively concerned is Government Low Cost Housing. Building and site formation works are in hand on five estates with a population potential of 90,000; and planning is in hand on a further seven sites with a population potential of 110,000. We expect to complete about 7,000 flats with accommodation for over 30,000 people this year.
Mr. Chairman, I should like to take this opportunity to pay a tribute to the enthusiasm and industry of the professional and technical officers of the Public Works Department who are working on the Resettlement and Low Cost Housing projects. The staff available for this work is small, but their output is amazing. It is worthy of note that in spite of the general tendency for building costs to rise over the past few years, the unit costs of Mark I and Mark II Resettlement Blocks (that is, those with external balcony access) have remained steady since the first blocks were built at Shek Kip Mei in 1954. In fact, tendered rates for 1962 were below the average for the previous seven years.
In saying that the present programme to resettle 100,000 persons per year does not keep up with the natural growth in population, Mrs. ELLIOT appears to be under the impression that Resettlement is the only form of Government housing. This is not so; the sum total of Government aided housing (Housing Authority, Housing Society, Resettlement and Government Low Cost Housing) is likely to accom- modate 850,000 people in the next five years an average of over 170,000 per year.
This figure excludes the contribution of private enterprise. The information given in the 1962 Annual Report to the effect that private
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enterprise has provided accommodation for 85,000 people during the past seven years is incorrect; the correct figure is 585,000.
I cannot understand Mr. WATSON'S reference to Government regula- tions which do not allow private enterprise to build the type of housing which Government itself thinks is most needed for the low income groups. There is nothing to prevent private enterprise building the same type and size of self-contained flat as is being built by the Housing Authority and the Housing Society.
In regard to heights and densities I would remind Mr. WATSON of the Building (Planning) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations, 1962 whereby developers have a choice of building low with a high site coverage or high with a low site coverage. The higher the building, the greater the permitted plot ratio, which goes up to a maximum of 8 for ordinary sites or 10 for corner sites. Translated into population densities at 35 sq. ft. per person of living space these plot ratios mean 5,000 and 6,250 persons per net acre respectively. I cannot believe that Mr. WATSON advocates population densities even higher than these; they must surely be high enough to give private enterprise all the encourage- ment that they could hope for.
I support Mr. SALES when he pleads for more public open space in the congested residential areas of the Western District. I sincerely hope that we shall be able to devise a satisfactory and acceptable scheme for providing public playgrounds of reasonable size to make up for the present deficiency.
In Kowloon we are working on a plan which will embrace the whole of Tsim Sha Tsui and the new Hung Hom Reclamation. This area includes Whitfield Barracks and the Railway lands referred to by Mr. SALES. Before publishing this plan it is the intention of the Town Planning Board to send it together with a statement of principles upon which it has been based to the Urban Council and other public bodies. I hope that this Council will take advantage of this opportunity to let the Town Planning Board have their criticisms and their ideas on the planning of this very important area.
The Honourable F. S. LI spoke of building sites and the annoyance or danger that they can cause. In October, 1962 the Building (Demolition Works) Regulations came into operation. These Regula- tions are designed to ensure that demolition works are carried out in such a way as to be least likely to cause accidents. Apart from the provisions which require shoring or other means to prevent accidental collapse, the regulations require that demolition works must be super- vised by an experienced person and carried out by experienced workmen acting under the direction of a competent foreman.
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