ENG-1976 — Page 135

HOUSING AND LAND

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centre, a small group home run by welfare agencies, and a welfare hall. There will also be two garages and a covered bus terminus.

The $53 million Hing Wah estate at Chai Wan has eight multi-storey domestic blocks which house 22,700 people. The estate has two schools, a welfare hall, market, restaurant and large areas of open space with playgrounds and gardens. The first two blocks of the estate were completed in February 1976-six weeks ahead of schedule-under a crash building programme launched by the Public Works Depart- ment's Architectural Office following a fire in the squatter area at Aldrich Bay, in which 3,200 people lost their homes. Under the emergency plan, eight weeks of works were condensed into just two-and-a-half weeks, enabling the Housing Authority to arrange for the early rehousing of some of the people who had lost their homes in the fire.

Estates Under Construction

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The building scheme of the Lai Yiu estate (formerly known as Ha Kwai Chung) at Tsuen Wan started in May 1973 and was divided into three phases. The development area covers 22 acres and the estate will provide 2,415 flats to house about 19,300 people. There will be three twin-tower domestic blocks, one slab domestic block and one three-storey low block for shops and a restaurant. Ancillary accommodation facilities will include market stalls, tradesmen's workshops, primary and secondary schools and kindergartens. Allocation of flats started in December 1976 and the estate is expected to be fully completed by May 1977.

The Cheung Ching estate is under construction on a 70-acre site on Tsing Yi Island. Building work on the first phase of the housing project-comprising four 22 to 24-storey twin-tower blocks and one slab block-is at an advanced stage, with the first blocks due for completion in early 1977. They will provide about 3,000 flats of varying sizes from 240 square feet to 590 square feet for about 23,000 people. Also being built on the site is a large commercial complex with restaurants, supermarkets, department stores and other shopping facilities for the islanders. A further phase of the project—including the building of two more twin-tower blocks, three primary schools and ancillary works-was also begun during 1976. The estate is situated on a slope just off the western end of the Tsing Yi bridge, overlooking the Rambler Channel, and on completion in the early 1980s it will house more than 50,000 people.

Two public housing estates under construction in Clear Water Bay Road will eventually provide homes for more than 125,000 people. They are the Ngau Chi Wan estate, neighbouring the Ping Shek estate, and the Shun Lee Tsuen estate, near Anderson Road. Two multi-million-dollar contracts for the building of various phases of the estates were awarded in July to two local construction firms. The first contract, worth $48 million, is for the building of three twin-tower blocks for 16,000 people, a three-storey car park and a primary school at the Shun Lee Tsuen estate. The second contract, worth $41 million, is for the development at the Ngau Chi Wan estate of three twin-tower blocks for 16,000 people, a primary school and a kindergarten. Building works for both projects started in July and are expected to be completed in mid-1978.

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