6.
of services, recent discussion with
you, and factual data provided by the
Secretary for the New Territories, has
I trust re-assured you of Government's
intentions. The Secretary will
discuss with you the timing of these
improvements.
12.
With regard to the policy
of permitting villagers to build houses
for themselves, there is no intention
to prevent individual villagers from
building houses within the environs
of the villages. It was necessary to
make some changes to the village house
policy in 1976 in order to curtail
widespread abuse. In many cases,
scarce land was obtained on concession-
ary terms for villagers' use and later
sold to outside purchasers at con-
siderable profit, thus depriving
villagers of land which may be needed
for genuine village expansion. Where
possible, village extension areas will
be defined.
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