(1) Where the competent authority upon a report from any of its officers or other information in its possession is satisfied as respects any slum area that the most satisfactory method of dealing with the conditions in the area is the demolition of all the buildings in the area, the authority shall by an order notified in the Official Gazette declare the area to be a clearance area, that is to say, an area to be cleared of all buildings in accordance with the provisions of this Act:
Provided that any building in the area which is not unfit for human habitation or dangerous or injurious to health may be excluded from the declaration if the authority considers it necessary.
(2) The competent authority shall forthwith transmit to the Administrator a copy of the declaration under this section together with a statement of the number of persons who on a date specified in the statement were occupying buildings comprised in the clearance area.