Hong Kong landowners to get better compensation rates with new mechanism, in bid to boost Northern Metropolis development
- Revised arrangement to increase by 10 per cent government budget for land resumption in next five years, involving 500 hectares of private sites
- New system offers only two tiers of compensation, to be determined by land resumption purpose, with rates reviewed every six months
Compensation rates for rural landlords to surrender their plots to the Hong Kong government will be raised in a simplified mechanism starting from this month, which officials say will help speed up development of the Northern Metropolis.
The revised arrangement will increase by 10 per cent the government budget for land resumption in the next five years in the New Territories, which involves 500 hectares (1,235 acres) of private land and costs HK$6.3 billion (US$802.9 million).
A spokeswoman for the Development Bureau on Tuesday said the measures were to address long-standing complaints from landowners about unfairness in the so-called ex gratia compensation system, used by the government to seize private agricultural land for building public housing, infrastructure, community facilities, conservation and so on.
“In future, when we pay, we will be just looking at the purpose of land resumption – whether your land is taken for development or not. There will be only two kinds of rates,” she said.
