The Government today announced two special measures under the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po to assist residents affected by last November’s fire at the Tai Po estate.

The first measure provides a token of solidarity of $100,000 to the families of the 168 individuals, including residents, foreign domestic helpers, workers and visitors, who lost their lives in the fire. This is intended to support them through this period of recovery and help them rebuild their lives.

The second measure offers a one-off $5,000 Chinese New Year goodwill payment to each flat owner or their families across all eight blocks of Wang Fuk Court as a seasonal blessing.

The payments will be disbursed through the "one social worker per household" mechanism from today.

The two measures are estimated to cost $26.6 million and will be fully funded by a donation from the Beijing Han Hong Love Charity Foundation.

Following an earlier donation proposal by the foundation, the special measures were finalised after consultation with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government and endorsed by the Steering Committee on the Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po.