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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Dealing now with the particular case of the production of resettlement blocks during the current year, accommodation for 64,000 persons was completed by the builders up to the end of September which represents an expenditure of $50 million out of the $104 million voted for the current financial year. By the end of the year it is hoped that we will have completed accommodation for 120,000 persons and it may even prove possible to exceed this figure. There does not, therefore, appear to be any need to urge Government to take any special steps to improve this year's output of buildings and, indeed, there is little, if anything, that could be done to effect such an improvement.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt on a point of order? I did not urge that Government should improve this year's output. I simply said that Government should try, for the next six months of the financial year, to achieve the target which the Commissioner for Resettlement referred to at the July meeting of the Council.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS:- Mr. Chairman, to continue my speech. While this year's building programme has not been seriously affected, there is no doubt that the phenomenal weather of June, August and September will probably affect production next year and the year after. Naturally, the Public Works Department will make every effort to minimize this, but I am sure that Members will appreciate that, given all the goodwill in the world, there is a limit to what can be achieved with the resources available. It is for this reason, among others, that Government is working to a six-year building programme subject to annual review rather than attempt to work to an annual programme.
Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in made a certain statement which implied that buildings declared dangerous by the Building Authority were not in fact dangerous. This in itself is a dangerous statement. (Laughter). I should like Mr. CHEUNG to reflect that just last week we had a collapse in the Western district, where certain people lost their lives. Had the Building Authority inspected that building before the collapse, what period of time should he have given to vacate? Fourteen days?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Mr. Chairman, as time is getting on I shall try to be very brief in replying to the various speeches which have been made by my colleagues. I find it amusing, and indeed am happy in a way, that I have drawn so much blood and fire from my colleagues on the Official side.
First of all, let me assure my colleague on the Elected side, Mr. BERNACCHI, that I am 100% behind the Urban Council proposal that we should aim at a target for the next ten years at the rate of 150,000 per annum, but this motion is a specific motion.
MR. WATSON:- Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt? For Mr. CHEONG-LEEN's information, over the next ten years I think the target is 190,000 per annum.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. BERNACCHI:- I agree with Mr. WATSON.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- I accept that correction, Mr. Chairman, but in the Report, reference was made to the target of 150,000 per annum over the next six years, and for the next six years after, that target is 150,000 per annum. May I read, Mr. Chairman, from the reply which the Commissioner for Resettlement gave at the July meeting of the Council:
"I hesitate to forecast the rate of resettlement even for the three months immediately ahead. Bad weather, a defaulting contractor, or a number of other misfortunes may delay the completion of new blocks which is the governing factor. My guess is that we shall resettle between 30,000 and 31,000 persons in the quarter July to September 1964, and that, all being well, we shall reach the target of 120,000 by the end of the financial year. With luck, we may do better."
Mr. Chairman, if there has been any target, perhaps the impression is being given that the Commissioner for Resettlement and I are colluding together to establish this target. The Commissioner has made reference in his remarks to the fact that I need not be unduly worried as to the possible large number of people who will lose their homes as a result of buildings declared dangerous.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt? My exact words are "It is possible to exaggerate", not "need not be unduly worried”.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- There is that possibility, Mr. Chairman. On the other hand, I can only make an estimate based on the best information available and it would seem that there will be an increasing number of buildings which can be condemned over the next twelve months. I am very happy to hear too that there will be interest paid on any deposit made by people coming from demolished buildings. I am not sure whether this was mentioned in the White Paper.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- Yes, this was mentioned in paragraph 17.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- Was it 3%?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:- This was not mentioned in the White Paper.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:- This information should be very welcome. On the other hand, Mr. Chairman, in moving this motion, I made a specific reference to poor families, and by poor families, I mean families in cubicles and bedspaces. As I stated when moving the motion, Mr. Chairman, these families will not get as much compensation as $1,600,
Page 173 of 312
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
Dealing now with the particular case of the production of resettle- ment blocks during the current year, accommodation for 64,000 persons was completed by the builders up to the end of September which repre- sents an expenditure of $50 million out of the $104 million voted for the current financial year. By the end of the year it is hoped that we will have completed accommodation for 120,000 persons and it may even prove possible to exceed this figure. There does not, therefore, appear to be any need to urge Government to take any special steps to improve this year's output of buildings and, indeed, there is little, if anything, that could be done to effect such an improvement.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt on a point of order? I did not urge that Government should improve this year's output. I simply said that Government should try, for the next six months of the financial year, to achieve the target which the Commis- sioner for Resettlement referred to at the July meeting of the Council.
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC WORKS: -Mr. Chairman, to continue my speech. While this year's building programme has not been seriously affected, there is no doubt that the phenomenal weather of June, August and September will probably affect production next year and the year after. Naturally, the Public Works Department will make every effort to minimize this, but I am sure that Members will appreciate that, given all the goodwill in the world, there is a limit to what can be achieved with the resources available. It is for this reason, among others, that Government is working to a six-year building programme subject to annual review rather than attempt to work to an annual programme.
Mr. CHEUNG Wing-in made a certain statement which implied that buildings declared dangerous by the Building Authority were not in fact dangerous. This in itself is a dangerous statement. (Laughter). I should like Mr. CHEUNG to reflect that just last week we had a collapse in the Western district, where certain people lost their lives. Had the Building Authority inspected that building before the collapse, what period of time should he have given to vacate? Fourteen days?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, as time is getting on I shall try to be very brief in replying to the various speeches which have been made by my colleagues. I find it amusing, and indeed am happy in a way, that I have drawn so much blood and fire from my colleagues on the Official side.
First of all, let me assure my colleague on the Elected side, Mr. BERNACCHI, that I am 100% behind the Urban Council proposal that we should aim at a target for the next ten years at the rate of 150,000 per annum, but this motion is a specific motion.
MR. WATSON:-Mr. Chairman, may I interrupt? For Mr. CHEONG- LEEN's information, over the next ten years I think the target is 190,000 per annum.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. BERNACCHI:-I agree with Mr. WATSON.
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MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-I accept that correction, Mr. Chairman, but in the Report, reference was made to the target of 150,000 per annum over the next six years, and for the next six years after, that target is 150,000 per annum. May I read, Mr. Chairman, from the reply which the Commissioner for Resettlement gave at the July meeting of the Council:
"I hesitate to forecast the rate of resettlement even for the three months immediately ahead. Bad weather, a defaulting contractor, or a number of other misfortunes may delay the completion of new blocks which is the governing factor. My guess is that we shall resettle between 30,000 and 31,000 persons in the quarter July to September 1964, and that, all being well, we shall reach the target of 120,000 by the end of the financial year. With luck, we may do better."
Mr. Chairman, if there has been any target, perhaps the impression is being given that the Commissioner for Resettlement and I are colluding together to establish this target. The Commissioner has made reference in his remarks to the fact that I need not be unduly worried as to the possible large number of people who will lose their homes as a result of buildings declared dangerous.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-Mr. Chairman, may I inter- rupt? My exact words are "It is possible to exaggerate", not "need not be unduly worried”.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN :· -There is that possibility, Mr. Chairman. On the other hand, I can only make an estimate based on the best informa- tion available and it would seem that there will be an increasing number of buildings which can be condemned over the next twelve months. I am very happy to hear too that there will be interest paid on any deposit made by people coming from demolished buildings. I am not sure whether this was mentioned in the White Paper.
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT : —Yes, this was mentioned in paragraph 17.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Was it 3%?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: the White Paper.
-This was not mentioned in
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-This information should be very welcome. On the other hand, Mr. Chairman, in moving this motion, I made a specific reference to poor families, and by poor families, I mean families in cubicles and bedspaces. As I stated when moving the motion, Mr. Chairman, these families will not get as much compensation as $1,600,
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