The News
Daily stories about the ongoing saga of the destruction of Sai Wan, and reports on potential developments at Lai Chi Chong and Hoi Ha, and a stalled one at To Kwa Peng, have most people shaking their heads at our government’s past and continuing ineptitude.
In the latest instalment, 12 members of the newly formed concern group Green Community chaired by Gary Fan, a Sai Kung District Councillor, lodged a complaint about the Sai Wan construction with the Ombudsman. The group requested the Ombudsman investigate the handling of the matter by the Lands Department (LD) and determine if there has been any “maladministration”. Mr Fan said the group would also take the matter to the Police and Independent Commission Against Corruption to force the government to take proper action over this issue.
Government land in Sai Wan was also excavated – said to be 5,500 square metres beside the private land – but there is as yet no decision on whether to prosecute the landowner. Apparently the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) knew about the work in early June, but determining it wasn’t country park land, referred the matter to LD, who erected signs telling the contractors to stay off government land. As this is not the first such case that LD has handled, surely they would have learned by now that erecting signs and/or bollards if ineffective. Why not take immediate legal action instead?
Recent revelations highlighted the fact that a total of 54 Country Park sites, including the Sai Wan site, have never been covered by any kind of planning control through any government planning or environment departments. How is that possible? It appears that these sites were considered too remote when they were excluded from the Country Parks at the time of their creation to need a specific land use designation.
Around 20 of these unzoned sites are within or bordering the Sai Kung Country Parks, the most famous of which – Tai Long Sai Wan – is heavily promoted as a “green” destination in Hong Kong’s tourism brochures. When these sites were excluded, they were farming areas with very small populations or already abandoned villages.
Wake up Government People – this is the 21st century! Nowhere is remote anymore. Unlike the government, the rural population has long recognized the value of their private, and formerly remote, land in the same way as their urban cousins have – by selling the land to anyone who can afford it.
Following a general public outcry, petitions and meetings with green groups Secretary for Development, Carrie Lam has directed the Town Planning Board (TPB) to designate Sai Wan as a “development permission area” (DPA). This is expected to be fast-tracked through Legco in two weeks. No development is permitted in a DPA without prior approval from the TPB. An Outline Zoning Plan (OZP) would be developed within three years, as the DPA is only valid for that time period.
Will all 54 sites be covered by the new zoning plan? How, or will, private landowners be compensated for losing a potential sale or development? The government says it is impractical to resume such private land, and to be fair to landowners, at present they do have a legal right to develop their own land.
Stay tuned – it’s a story that’s not going away quickly.
Photos by Charles Frew
