【明報專訊】A housewarming party has been given in the most expensive villa in the world. Named after a mysterious islet in the Atlantic, Antilia is a 27-floor building in the heart of Mumbai, India. It cost over HK$7.8 billion to build the luxury property. Its owner is Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India.
Ambani is chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries (印度信實工業公司), the largest private group in India. According to Forbes, he is the fourth richest man in the world. Antilia houses a 6-floor parking lot, a swimming pool and a cinema. About 600 employees are needed to operate the property, but only five people live there-Ambani, his wife and their three children.
Ambani invited eighty millionaires and celebrities in the city, including the author Shabhaa De, to his housewarming party. Antilia boasts a high-speed escalator and the largest and most spectacular ballroom in the country. His guests described it as more magnificent than the Palace of Versailles, Paris.
Another luxury property is One Hyde Park (海德公園一號) in London, the United Kingdom. Its double-entry apartments are worth HK$1.72 billion each.
■Keywords
wealth……財富
private property……私有財產
rich-poor gap……貧富差距
■Questions
1.What issue are these paragraphs about?
2.Who attended the housewarming party? Why do you think Ambani invited them?
3.Though it boasts such a luxury property, India is one of the poorest countries in the world. What phenomenon does this point to?
■Further reading
BBC. "India's Ambani hosts party for world's priciest home", 2010.11.27
