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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. SALES: - Might I refer you to the publication of another Government department in this respect and also draw your attention to the fact that more people live in Kowloon?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: -- Mr. Chairman, to clarify the point, may I ask what has this Council got to do with the collection of rates? Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask a supplementary in regard to your answer. Does the Director of the Urban Services Department consider that painting of the vans once every three years is sufficient? Has the Department considered changing this to once every two years?
CHAIRMAN: - Sir, as I have explained in my answer, I am assured by the experts that once every three years should suffice, provided the vans are also washed and polished.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: - Mr. Chairman, has the Department considered accepting commercial advertisements, which will ensure that the vans will be painted once every three to six months? (Laughter).
CHAIRMAN: - No, Sir.
DR. P. F. Woo asked the following question:-
Many people who are entitled to a shop-site in the resettlement estates have been on the waiting list for many years. These people usually sold everything they possessed in the farm or pig-sty at the time of clearance, and very often by the time a shop is allocated to them, they have used up their money in other ways and have no means to establish the shop. Would the Commissioner for Resettlement see to it that whenever there is a clearance plan those who are entitled for a shop site be assured that the site will be given to them within a short period, say six to twelve months?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
Shopsites in Resettlement Estates are allocated in the first instance to persons who have been operating shops of a certain size in tolerated structures which have to be cleared for development. Pig-breeders and cultivators are second and third in priority respectively. Because the number of shops in Resettlement Estates is not sufficient to meet all these requirements, pig-breeders and cultivators have had to be placed on a waiting list. There are, in fact, three waiting lists, one each for Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, and people are placed on the lists according to the geographical location from which they are cleared. They may waive their claim to a shop by accepting allocation of a $45 end-bay room, but in practice rarely do so. These arrangements are in accordance with decisions of the Resettlement (Policy) Select Committee. Unfortunately it is seldom possible to allocate shops to people on the waiting lists because they are almost all taken up by those with a prior claim.
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
There are now 777 people on the Kowloon waiting list and 154 on that for Hong Kong. It is estimated that between now and the end of March 1965 roughly 1,240 shops will become available for allocation and that almost all of these will be taken up by shopkeepers in squatter areas that have to be cleared. It is therefore not possible to give the assurance required without a change in the policy approved by the Resettlement (Policy) Select Committee.
When the Resettlement (Policy) Select Committee last discussed the waiting lists in April 1963, it was acknowledged that there was little likelihood of meeting the obligation to provide all the people on the waiting lists with shopsites and my predecessor stated that Government was considering what alternative measures could be taken. The matter is under active consideration by Government and I hope to be able to put proposals to the Resettlement (Policy) Select Committee in the near future. While I acknowledge that the position we have got into is most unsatisfactory, I suggest that it would be better to await these proposals.
DR. LEE: - Does not the Commissioner for Resettlement consider that a cash compensation is a far better form than giving them prospective sites?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT: - That is a solution which is under consideration.
DR. P. F. Woo asked the following question:-
The Health Education Select Committee sometimes finds it difficult to launch a programme because the programme proposed may overlap the programme of other Departments, for example, the Medical Department. This is especially true when the Anti-Smoking Campaign was deliberated. Would the Chairman inquire from the Medical
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. SALES: -Might I refer you to the publication of another Government department in this respect and also draw your attention to the fact that more people live in Kowloon?
MR. CHEONG-LEEN: --Mr. Chairman, to clarify the point, may I ask what has this Council got to do with the collection of rates? Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask a supplementary in regard to your answer. Does the Director of the Urban Services Department consider that painting of the vans once every three years is sufficient? Has the Department considered changing this to once every two years?
CHAIRMAN:-Sir, as I have explained in my answer, I am assured by the experts that once every three years should suffice, provided the vans are also washed and polished.
MR. CHEONG-LEEN:-Mr. Chairman, has the Department con- sidered accepting commercial advertisements, which will ensure that the vans will be painted once every three to six months? (Laughter).
CHAIRMAN:-No, Sir.
DR. P. F. Woo asked the following question:-
Many people who are entitled to a shop-site in the resettle- ment estates have been on the waiting list for many years. These people usually sold everything they possessed in the farm or pig-sty at the time of clearance, and very often by the time a shop is allocated to them, they have used up their money in other ways and have no means to establish the shop. Would the Commissioner for Resettlement see to it that whenever there is a clearance plan those who are entitled for a shop site be assured that the site will be given to them within a short period, say six to twelve months?
THE COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT replied as follows:-
Shopsites in Resettlement Estates are allocated in the first instance to persons who have been operating shops of a certain size in tolerated structures which have to be cleared for development. Pig-breeders and cultivators are second and third in priority respectively. Because the number of shops in Resettlement Estates is not sufficient to meet all these requirements, pig-breeders and cultiva- tors have had to be placed on a waiting list. There are, in fact, three waiting lists, one each for Hong Kong, Kowloon and the New Territories, and people are placed
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on the lists according to the geographical location from which they are cleared. They may waive their claim to a shop by accepting allocation of a $45 end-bay room, but in practice rarely do so. These arrangements are in accordance with decisions of the Resettlement (Policy) Select Committee. Unfortunately it is seldom possible to allocate shops to people on the waiting lists because they are almost all taken up by those with a prior claim.
There are now 777 people on the Kowloon waiting list and 154 on that for Hong Kong. It is estimated that between now and the end of March 1965 roughly 1,240 shops will become available for allocation and that almost all of these will be taken up by shopkeepers in squatter areas that have to be cleared. It is therefore not possible to give the assurance required without a change in the policy approved by the Resettlement (Policy) Select Committee.
When the Resettlement (Policy) Select Committee last dis- cussed the waiting lists in April 1963, it was acknowledged that there was little likelihood of meeting the obligation to provide all the people on the waiting lists with shopsites and my predecessor stated that Government was con- sidering what alternative measures could be taken. The matter is under active consideration by Government and I hope to be able to put proposals to the Resettlement (Policy) Select Committee in the near future. While I acknowledge that the position we have got into is most unsatisfactory, I suggest that it would be better to await these proposals.
DR. LEE:-Does not the Commissioner for Resettlement consider that a cash compensation is a far better form than giving them prospec- tive sites?
COMMISSIONER FOR RESETTLEMENT:-That is a solution which is under consideration.
DR. P. F. Woo asked the following question:-
The Health Education Select Committee sometimes finds it difficult to launch a programme because the programme proposed may overlap the programme of other Depart- ments, for example, the Medical Department. This is especially true when the Anti-Smoking Campaign was de- liberated. Would the Chairman inquire from the Medical
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