Ref.:
LNT 219/ZRN/59
Arrangements for the clearance of
Sha Tin Market
Annex B
Sha Tin Market is due to be cleared for development during February and March 1979, i.e. after the lunar New Year. The site will be required for the development of the new Town Centre.
2.
It has been accepted, by both the Government and the Housing Authority, that Sha Tin Market merits a different degree of treatment, to that normally applied to squatter clearances in view of, the special circumstances of Sha Tin Market which are as follows
a) it has, for about the last 30 years been a cohesive community providing commercial. facilities serving the whole of the Shatin district; and
b) Government actively encouraged the growth of the existing market. It granted a Modification of
a market, oversaw Tenancy to allow the land to be used as the development of the private land.by imposing standards of roads and drainage, and subsequently encouraged residents to establish shops,
3.
The first three rows of Sha Tin Market, comprising 28 shops,
were cleared in June 1976 for the Tai Po Road Widening. Before that clearance, it was agreed that exceptional treatment for compensation should be awarded to those being cleared. This treatment included:
a) agreement by the Housing Authority that all operators of shops and stalls being cleared should be eligible, on a one-for-one basis, to participate in a restricted tender (at half upset price and with the right to assign once before the agreement was executed) for 28 selected commercial premises in Lek Yuen Estate; and
b) agreement by the Finance Committee that
the then ceiling for shop compensation of $20,000, normally applied in clearances, should be waived in favour of compensation in respect of total business areas in each case.
The remainder