}
I
3
1
the "compensation" value and the "market" value both take
account of the right to build to the full extent permitted
in the lease, but, in the case of New Territories agricultural
land, the open market tends to take account of possible
permissions to build and hopes of exchanges, which are
excluded from consideration in a valuation for compensation
purposes. Thus "compensation" value may be much lower than
open market value.
5.
Generally speaking, even before administrative
measures were taken in 1973 to increase the levels of
compensation payable on resumption, resumptions outside
urban layouts for roads and other clearly demonstrable
public purposes were not seriously opposed. However,
right from the early fifties, where land was required
by Government for urban development, strong opposition
to resumption was encountered, because the lessees objected
to parting with their lands for compensation based on
agricultural values only to see them resold by Government
to others as building land at much higher prices.
The Letter 'B' System
6.
The New Territories urban land exchange policy
(Letter B System) was devised to circumvent this opposition
of New Territories land-owners to the strict application
/of