Villagers fear government policy will encourage more ‘mainland China-style’ demolitions
ERNEST.KAO@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Thursday, 24 March, 2016, 11:46am
Villager Wong Man-fa says his family has lived on the site for 50 years. Photo: Dickson Lee
Villagers’ hopes of rebuilding their bulldozed squatter homes in a Sheung Shui village will likely be in vain as officials say doing so will require permission from the landowners.
This was revealed to the affected Kwu Tung North villagers at a meeting with the Lands Department’s squatter control office on Wednesday.
Villager Wong Man-fa vowed to continue his fight to rebuild on the site he claims has been occupied – but not owned – by his family for some 50 years. He had been trying to gain possession through the courts.
Officials told them villagers would not be allowed to rebuild unless they were given consent in writing by the landowner to submit such a request to the government, said the Democratic Party’s Lam Cheuk-ting, who is helping the villagers.
“The landlords will never agree to their requests,” he said.
“We are very worried that this squatter policy will just encourage other developers or big landlords to use ‘[mainland] China-style’ forceful demolition to raze squatter houses whenever disputes arise,” he added.
More than a dozen structures – ranging from squatter huts to chicken sheds – were reduced to rubble by an unidentified group last week, leaving at least 10 residents from two households homeless. The case has been classified as criminal damage. Police have arrested a man suspected to be connected with the demolition.
“In a split second, they took the heart of two generations, our ancestral home, and razed it flat,” said Wong, 65, who now lives with his son.
The village in question was selected by the government for new town development in the New Territories.
Villagers accuse Team Glory Development, the Henderson Land Development subsidiary which owns part of the land, of being behind the demolition. The developer has denied this. The other part of the site is owned by offshore firm Wise Treasure Development, but little is known about this company.
A Henderson spokesman said it had yet to receive any requests to rebuild and was still looking into the situation.
The Lands Department said it understood the villagers’ predicament, but according to the terms of the land lease, building structures on the private lot would require the landholders to make the application to the department. This includes requests by squatters to rebuild houses.
“The department must ... respect the legal right of the private landholders,” a spokesman said.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1929896/no-way-rebuild-bulldozed-homes-villagers-must-get
