Resettlement_Department_Annual_Report_1958-1959 — Page 53

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.

123. Ground floor rooms in the estates that are let as shops or workshops 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. These rents were based on the estimated rental value of these premises though no distinction is made between different localities and all shop sites are charged the same rent.

124. The rents of units in the resettlement factory are calculated on a cost basis, as in the case of 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 by the Department.

125. These 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 the cost of construc- tion of the later estates, particularly in site formation and piling, are materially higher than the 1954 estimate. However, the income from rents in the estates is also higher than was estimated because of the subsequent decision to allow the use of ground floor rooms as shops and workshops, at a higher rent, and it has not so far been necessary to revise the original rent figures.

126. The total capital expenditure on the multi-storey estates, including buildings, site formation and piling, engineering works, super- vision fees and the cost of the land, is just under ninety million dollars. The total accommodation in the eighty four resettlement blocks con- structed consists of 36,847 habitable rooms, of which 3,452 rooms, or just over 9%, have been let as shops, and 155 self-contained flats.

127. Receipts for the year ending 31st March, 1959 amounted to $7,534,827. Of this sum permit fees in the cottage areas amounted to $1,111,410, rents from Government-owned cottages to $211,980, and the net rents received in the multi-storey estates, after paying rates and water charges, to $6,211,437. Particulars of the expenditure and revenue on resettlement for the seven-year period from 1st April, 1952 to 31st March, 1959, are attached as an appendix to this chapter.

41

!