G.F. 323
16.
CONFIDENTIAL **
機密
(b) The status of the buildings in the Walled City could hardly
fulfil the conditions implicit in the compensation policy
formulated for the purpose of 'acquisition and clearance
of land'. The obvious question is the 'legality' of
these 26 buildings. Since as a matter of policy these
buildings were constructed without prior approval of B.0.0.,
these buildings are therefore illegal structures, the
For
owners of which have no proper titles to the land.
lack of a better description, the buildings in the Walled
City are in effect 'multi-storey squatter structures',
therefore domestic occupiers of these 'squatter buildings'
built entirely after 1964 could hardly qualify for 'rehousing
in a public housing estate' since such privilege is given to
'domestic occupiers of a building or structure previously
built legally on land held under lease or licence or included
in a squatter control survey'. Therefore the only 'compensation'
for the affected residents in the buildings in the Walled
City would be 'space in a licensed area'. Cash compensation
is therefore out of the question.
Needless to say, this will
not be accepted by those affected as 'equitable compensation'.
Nonetheless, it is proposed that approval of the Executive Council
and Finance Committee be sought that, in view of the exceptional circumstances
of the Walled City, the compensation policy described in para. 14 above
should be applied to these 26 buildings. These special circumstances lie
in the unique history and political sensitivity of the area. In addition
there are the following humanitarian considerations:-
(a) The human and political impact of the sudden social
dislocation of residents.
(b) Government's moral obligation to the residents, in view
of the fact that the offending buildings had not been
effectively controlled when they were under construction.
CONFIDENTIAL
機
Accordingly,
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