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.
The current system has four tiers where compensation is determined by location rather than purpose, with owners of plots located within planned new towns getting the highest rate, followed by those whose plots are situated nearby.
“A typical complaint from landowners is, ‘why do I get a lower rate just because my plot is right outside the new town across the road, while another person on the opposite side of the road and happens to fall within the new town gets more?’ Both are surrendering their land to build public housing after all,” the spokeswoman said.
There was also dissatisfaction about less compensation for those making way for the construction of railways, columbaria and sewage treatment, although such facilities were of equal social importance as public housing, she added.
Under the new mechanism, which takes effect from Tuesday, all agricultural land to be taken for development purposes, regardless of location, will be covered by a “Tier 1” rate of HK$1,510 per square foot.
