customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

knowledgeQuestion

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Sherry Lee

Calls are growing for the government to say how much it spends on compensation for claims of harm to fung shui from public works, amid concern  that projects are being held hostage to geomancy.
Lawmakers want the government to say  how many such claims have been made  and how much the compensating measures have cost. Some want the compensation to end.
The government confirmed work has been undertaken, or payments made, to compensate for fung shui problems   in connection with construction of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen-Guangzhou express rail link, the MTR's West Rail line and a spur line, but won't say how much was paid out or what criteria it uses to judge a claim.
Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan will demand the Lands Department table the information for discussion in  the Legislative Council.
Democratic Party lawmaker Wong Sing-chi said: 'The Lands Department must make public the information on fung shui claims, as it is using  public money.  The government should explain to the public how much the claims cost, how they used the money, and for what.'
One such claim concerns Kap Lung village in the New Territories, whose indigenous head  wants the government to turn a footbridge into one that can take vehicles to compensate  for what he says is the disruption to fung shui caused by tunnelling work for the express link a kilometre away.
Eddie Tse Sai-kit, convenor of a group helping villagers affected by this claim, says the practice is like 'giving benefits' to indigenous village heads.
A list of 20 questions was sent to the department on September 22 seeking  details of the fung shui claims and how much has been paid out. However, a department spokeswoman said: 'The Lands Department does not have details of fung shui objections submitted to project departments.'
She said it had  paid HK$990,000 in allowances for tun fu religious rituals to 'drive away evil spirits and appease the gods'. The payments were made over the past three years in relation to 28 public works projects involving 47 indigenous villages.
A Home Affairs Department official  involved in handling claims says most are not related to fung shui.
'Most objections to government works are not really because of fung shui ... but they use fung shui to get money,' the official  said.
 Most claims concerned bridges, roads and archways and were lodged by indigenous village heads, this official said. If successful, they helped appease villagers and helped village chiefs get  elected.
 'The money will come in as long as they remain the village chiefs [and]  can get  inside information about  government plans and take bribes in return for getting permission for the construction of small houses or confirming an indigenous villager's identity,' the official said
 Wong, who is familiar with New Territories affairs, said: 'Some village heads ask people to go to the mainland to get  sums ranging from HK$20,000 to HK$100,000 [for allowing a small house to be built].' 
A second official said some village chiefs ask for the construction of roads which bring them immense benefit.
'For instance, with a road, the houses will sell better. This will attract developers to develop the places, and people to build small houses. Then the village chief will have money going into his pocket. If the government feels that it is unreasonable and rejects their fung shui claim, they protest fiercely,'  this official said.
He also said there was  no requirement for the government to prove the claims. 
Several requests to the government to explain what criteria it uses  to decide whether to accept or reject a claim either went unanswered or got the response that  they were decided after 'discussion and consultation'.
The government recently  set up a special working group to deal with fung shui claims related to construction of the express railway to  Guangzhou. The working group  has so far received 16 claims in connection with the project, of which all but one were accepted and compensation granted.
The compensation took the form of payments for  religious rituals, temple renovations and the building of a pagoda, village office and worship halls. The Lands Department won't say how much it spent on compensation.  
Rights activist Chu Hoi-dick is angry that indigenous village heads can get compensation yet residents of 14 old blocks in Tai Kok Tsui which tunnelling for the railway could make less safe have been paid nothing.
The Lands Department spokeswoman said similar working groups had been formed when needed in the past, for example in connection with the construction of the West Rail commuter railway and the East Rail Lok Ma Chau spur line to the border. 
The second official said: 'When there is a big project, there will be big benefit for indigenous village chiefs.'
Wong and others have called for the compensation to end. 'The government should not let fung shui lead its decisions on public works, as there is no way to prove fung shui,' he said.



Compensation for fung shui challenged