LAND AND HOUSING
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announced during the year was the Tai On Building at Shau Kei Wan with 1,880 flats which will be sold on instalment terms over a period of 14 years at prices varying from $15,800 to $24,500 per flat. The largest private housing development ever known in the Colony was announced in July by the Mei Foo Investment Com- pany. This scheme is planned to house over 70,000 people in more than 15,000 flats at Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon.
The work of the Hong Kong Building and Loan Agency Limited and the Hong Kong Housing Authority is described in Chapter 1. The Hong Kong Building and Loan Agency Limited now considers applications from families with total incomes in the range $700 to $2,000 per month, and loans are granted in suitable cases up to a maximum of $50,000. The Hong Kong Housing Authority consists of all members of the Urban Council, ex officio, and certain other members appointed by the Governor. Under the wide powers embodied in its constituting ordinance, the Authority plans, con- structs and manages its own estates, and had housed 134,143 people in 22,312 flats in seven completed estates by the end of the year. An extension to Fuk Loi Estate, Tsuen Wan, is now under construction; it will provide 224 flats to house about 1,350 people. Another estate at Pok Fu Lam on Hong Kong Island is also under construction and will be the largest so far undertaken by the Authority, covering an area of just over 24 acres and accommodating 53,960 people in 7,794 flats at a cost of $89.8 million. Four schools, kindergartens, a town centre with 16 shops and a market, medical and dental clinics, a post office, public library, party rooms and other amenities are included. During the year a site was granted by the government for another new estate at Ping Shek, next to the existing estate at Choi Hung, and site formation has already started. A feature of this estate will be five 50-storey tower blocks, each containing 768 flats.
The Authority's schemes already approved will provide housing for a total of 219,015 people in 34,554 flats at a capital cost of $338 million. Of this, $260 million will be provided by government loans and $78 million through self-financing. By the end of 1966 the Authority had spent $212.6 million and its annual rent roll had reached $24 million. Sites for the Authority's estates are provided by the government at one-third the estimated market