ENG-1976 — Page 134

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HOUSING AND LAND

panel of international experts was appointed by the Public Works Department to identify causes of this and other landslips and to make recommendations on future design criteria for man-made slopes in Hong Kong.

Housing Estates Completed

By March 1976, some 350,347 flats had been provided in public housing estates over a period of 23 years. All new flats have a minimum living space allocation of 35 square feet per person and are completely self-contained with kitchens, toilets and showers, and balconies. In the financial year 1975-6 there were 11,027 flats completed, compared with 5,500 in the previous year.

Projects completed during 1976 included the Lek Yuen estate, Lai King estate, Kwai Shing estate (Stages II and III) and Hing Wah estate. Major schemes under construction included the Lai Yiu estate, Ngau Chi Wan estate, Shun Lee estate, Cheung Ching estate and Fu Shan estate.

The 24-acre Lek Yuen estate—the first public housing estate to be constructed at Sha Tin-was completed by the end of 1976. Located beside the future new town centre, the estate has seven blocks of eight to 22 storeys with 3,252 self-contained flats. It will house about 23,000 people. The flats vary in size from 244 to 566 square feet and the monthly rent from $160 to $420. The estate has a modern air-conditioned shopping centre with supermarket, department store, shops, restaurants, banks, cooked-food stalls, service trade shops and market stalls. Other facilities include schools, kindergartens, a community hall, welfare accommodation, a recreation ground (which includes two mini-soccer pitches and a basketball court), a temporary fire station, a police reporting centre, a 247-space garage and open car parks. By the end of the year the estate was 80 per cent occupied.

The Lai King estate at Tsuen Wan provides homes for 27,964 people with 4,228 flats in seven blocks. Rents for domestic flats vary from $181 to $356 a month. Commercial services include shops, a modular market, a restaurant, two banks and 93 shopstalls. There are also schools and kindergartens in the estate as well as a post office, a community hall, a social security field unit, welfare accommodation reserved for other agencies, a police unit, and a factory block. The estate was fully occupied before the end of the year. It is bisected by a site reserved for the mass transit rail- way's Lai King station.

The Kwai Shing estate at Tsuen Wan was also fully completed at the end of the year. The building project was divided into three stages, with the first stage completed in March 1973. The 5,639 domestic units in the first stage vary from 253 square feet to 402 square feet, with monthly inclusive rents ranging from $85 to $173. The second and third stages were completed in 1976, providing 5,300 domestic units which will house approximately 37,000 people. The sizes of the flats vary from 244 square feet to 591 square feet and monthly rents from $176 to $381. The total estate population will be about 72,500. Commercial facilities include shops, modular markets, a supermarket, department stores and a restaurant. There are secondary schools, primary schools and kindergartens, while welfare services include a social