Tin Shui Wai, in the northern New Territories and west of Yuen Long, is one of Hong Kong's most rapidly developed towns, home to many mainland immigrants.

It gained notoriety in April last year when a man murdered his wife and twin six-year-old daughters at Tin Heng Estate before stabbing himself fatally.

It is now one of the four districts under study by the government's Poverty Commission.

Yuen Long district council member Cheung Yin-tung said Tin Shui Wai was planned and built hastily ``without careful consideration,'' leading to problems for residents.

With a population of 270,000, Tin Shui Wai is notorious for having the largest number of family abuse cases per head of population, is the hardest hit by unemployment, and has the largest number of low-income groups.

A government-funded study in 2004 showed the median income per household in Tin Shui Wai north was less than HK$8,000 compared with the average HK$15,000 for Hong Kong.

Tin Shui Wai has also the largest number of unemployed on the dole of any Hong Kong area, 5,709 as of last December. Another survey conducted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Services Department found that each job in the northwest New Territories attracted up to 52 applicants, compared with only two candidates for each position in the city.

Yuen Long Social Welfare Department officer Helen Yu said it was unrealistic to hope that Tin Shui Wai could become self sustaining in terms of employment.

As for abuse cases, Tin Shui Wai leads the way with 3,371 spouse abuses reported last year. It also recorded 93 of the 622 reported cases of child abuse throughout the SAR last year.

``The abuse cases in Yuen Long district (which includes Tin Shui Wai) ranked top of Hong Kong in 2004,'' Yu said.

She said part of the reason was a lack of community support. The problem of a weak social networks is intense in Tin Shui Wai north where the population has plunged by more than 100,000 since 2001.

``Residents of Tin Shui Wai north feel alienated and distanced from their friends,'' said Kerin Cham, program director for Tin Shui Wai ( North) Integrated Family Services Center run by International Social Services, Hong Kong Branch.

``They are not able to get assistance because of weak social networks there,'' Cham said. ``Some have asked to move back to their old homes in the city.''

Cheung said the situation was the result of ``a series of ill-fortunes'' coming together ``co-incidentally.'' He said Tin Shui Wai's poverty was the result of poor governance and hasty planning after

the 1997 handover fuelled family reunions across the border.

``Accordingly, the government came up with the 85,000-unit annual housing target to speed up construction of housing estates to meet the influx of mainland migrants,'' he said.

``Tin Shui Wai was, at the time, the only area where huge tracts of land were available for large-scale construction.''

In the same year, then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa tried to stabilize a runaway property market by announcing a construction target of 85,000 flats per year.

Less than a year later many home-owners found themselves in negative equity as prices dropped. In 2000, Tung confessed he had abandoned the plan.

A construction slowdown after the 85,000 target was abandoned also slowed development of social facilities and infrastructure, shortchanging

the growing community of Tin Shui Wai, Cheung said.

The slowdown also reduced job opportunities for low-skilled workers living in Tin Shui Wai

which became an ``unsustainable community.''

Cheung said Tin Shui Wai's population warranted three public hospitals. It has one public clinic. The nearest public hospital is at Tuen Mun. Other facilities are few and far between. ``For instance, 11 housing blocks comprising 4,200 households share one badminton court,'' Cheung said.

There were also few open spaces where people could relax, one of the points brought up in the post-mortem of last April's family tragedy.

Since then the government has reviewed and tried to improve family services in Tin Shui Wai. In April, one year after the murders, the Social Welfare Department set up a Family and Child Protective Services Unit there.

Chan Moon-shing, a senior social work officer,

said much of the domestic violence was because of mainland wives and children joining their families in Hong Kong and not being able to adapt.

``Setting up of the unit is only a remedial measure,'' Cheung said. ``We still have a long way to go.''

chester.yung@singtaonewscorp.com

jeannette.ng@singtaonewscorp.com