A dispute over an access road to a new village for displaced Tsoi Yuen Tsuen families has finally been resolved after a mystery benefactor stepped in, the Heung Yee Kuk chief revealed yesterday.
Lau Wong-fat, who brokered the deal, announced the news at the kuk's spring reception yesterday, which will pave the way for major construction work to start on the new eco-village at Yuen Kong in a month.
The deal means villagers will not need to pay an access fee on the privately owned road. And it resolves a deadlock that has prevented 47 families from building new homes at the site in Yuen Kong and forced them to remain in their old village in Shek Kong, which must make way for the HK$66.9 billion Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong rail link. It also means demolition can now start on homes in the old village.
A donor - out of his concern for the progress of the railway project and economic integration between Hong Kong and the mainland - bought the access rights, said Lau, who refused to reveal the identity of the benefactor.
To ensure the Tsoi Yuen villagers could start building their new homes, the donor gave the access rights to the kuk, said Lau, who denied he was the benefactor. Lau, who also refused to reveal the amount paid, said they even held talks on the second day of the Lunar New Year.
The families have been locked in a struggle between MTR bulldozers at their old village and hostile indigenous villagers of Yuen Kong on Kam Sheung Road, banning them from using the existing 500-metre road - the only access - to the new site. The families signed a deal in early December to buy a 188,000 sq ft site in Yuen Kong for more than HK$18 million. So far, villagers and their supporters had been able only to clear weeds and put up fences.
