was added the sum of $230,000 for a site of 23,000 square feet, and $15,600 for supervision by the Public Works Department (2% of the cost of construction) making a total of $1,025,600 or $2,375 a room. On the basis of these figures and on the assumption that annually recurrent costs would amount to $17,200 for each block, the rent for each room was assessed at $13 a month, to which $1 a month was added for water.
73. The rent of self-contained flats, the first block of which was completed in June 1957, was calculated on the same basis, with the addition of rates, which are included in the rents payable by the tenants and paid ‘en bloc' by the Department. These rents are $45 a month for a flat of 240 square feet and $65 a month for a flat of 360 square feet. 74. Ground floor rooms in estates which are let as shops or work- shops are charged a commercial rent of $100 a month for a large shop of 240 square feet and $50 a month for one of 120 square feet. Rates are not payable. These rents were based on the estimated rental value of the premises, no distinction being made between different localities.
75. Rents of units in a resettlement factory are calculated on a cost basis, as with domestic rooms, but the capital cost includes the full upset price of the land, and is repayable in twenty one years with compound interest at 5%. Here again rates are included in the rent payable by tenants and are paid ‘en bloc' by the Department.
76. All rents are subject to a periodic review, which takes into account variations in the cost of construction and of maintenance and administration. It has been found, for instance, that building and recurrent costs per multi-storey block are materially higher now, particularly for site formation, piling, administration expenses, and the cost of water supply, than in 1954 when existing scales of rents were introduced.
77. On 31st March, 1961, total capital expenditure on multi-storey estates, including buildings, site formation, piling and engineering works, amounted to $156,355,159 for 149 resettlement blocks and 4 factories, including a single storey annexe, all completed, and for 59 resettlement blocks and 2 factories still under construction. Total accommodation in the 149 domestic blocks constructed consisted of 63,333 standard size habitable rooms (which included 6,192 for letting as shops) and 395 flats.
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