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The Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, today (August 3) visited Ching Ho Estate in Sheung Shui and Tin Ching Estate in Tin Shui Wai to see the living environment of new public rental housing estates, which is well supported by community facilities.
Ching Ho Estate consists of eight domestic blocks, three of which were completed in 2006 while the remaining five in 2008. It provides about 7,200 flats of various sizes with community and recreational facilities. Vertical greening of the external walls and the green rooftop of the refuse collection point at the estate had achieved very good results.
There are currently over 6,500 households in the estate. Ms Cheng visited a nuclear family to better understand their daily life. The family rented a small private unit in Sham Shui Po before moving in Ching Ho Estate last year. They told the Secretary that they were satisfied with the much-improved living environment.
Ms Cheng then visited Tin Ching Estate in Tin Shui Wai. Tin Ching Estate comprises seven domestic blocks with about 6,200 flats. Four domestic blocks were completed in 2008 while the remaining three are to be completed at the end of 2009.
Ms Cheng dropped in on a Housing Advisory and Service Team and discussed briefly with team members. The team was set up in April 2008 to help new tenants adapt to the community. Services provided by the team, including orientation briefings, outreaching, offering professional advice or counseling to new tenants and conducting home visits, were well received by the tenants.
Community service will be further improved with the completion of a six-storey amenity and community building scheduled for end-2010. More social services will be provided to the community then.
There are currently over 3,700 households in the estate. Ms Cheng visited a young couple with a small child who have been living in Tin Ching Estate for about a year. They are happy to find the estate a self-contained community with all kinds of facilities they need.
During today's visit, Ms Cheng inspected vacant flats of different sizes in the two estates. She requested the Housing Department to make available sufficient units in Ching Ho Estate and Tin Ching Estate to residents to be affected by large-scale infrastructure projects for rehousing purpose.
Ends/Monday, August 3, 2009
Issued at HKT 21:18
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