Government control. It is granted land at half upset price and loans from Government at a low rate of interest. It is to operate as a commercial undertaking and its housing projects must pay their own way.
10. The administration of the Authority is carried out by the Housing Division of the Urban Services Department. This Division was created in October 1953 but it has so far been mainly concerned with questions of planning and general policy and it has functioned with a skeleton staff only. The general organization of this Division is to be in the form of three sections, dealing with Administration, Accounts, and Estate Management respectively, with a senior officer in charge of each section. So far only the Administration section is in operation; a Housing Manager is now being recruited to organize and administer an Estates Management section and an Accountant will be recruited later, in time to organize an Accounts Section and set up his books before the first flats are ready for occupation.
11. It was originally proposed that all matters relating to the design and construction of flats for the Authority should be dealt with by the Public Works Department. This Department however has been unable to undertake this commitment owing to shortage of staff and the Authority has had to rely on the more expensive arrangement of employing the services of private architects.
12. The Authority held its first meeting on 9th June, 1954, and laid down the general lines on which it should function, and its broad policy. To enable its duties to be carried out more efficiently a number of select committees were set up. A list of these committees is given at Appendix II. These select com- mittees deal with routine matters arising within their respective provinces and make recommendations to the Authority as a whole on matters of general policy. These committees and the Authority as a whole have met at regular intervals throughout the year and they have, between them, cleared the ground of preliminary details of organization and policy.
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