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LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
When it is necessary for the government to acquire private land for new town development in the New Territories, power is exercised under the Crown Lands Resump- tion Ordinance and statutory compensation is paid for the extinguishment of rights conferred by a lease. In practice, a system of ex-gratia compensation applies with enhanced rates paid for land situated within the new town development areas. In the case of building land, the ex-gratia compensation is paid in addition to the assessed statutory compensation. The compulsory acquisition of marine rights, usually required for reclamation projects. or the grant of pier leases, is effected under the Foreshore and Sea-bed (Reclamations) Ordinance. This ordinance, enacted in August to replace two previous ordinances, provides for the lodging of objections to a scheme and for payment of compensation. Private rights over foreshores or seabed affected as a result of road projects are dealt with under the Roads (Works, Use and Compensation) Ordinance.
The need for land for development continued to grow and, during 1985, some 1.77 million square metres of private land were acquired in the New Territories in order to carry out various public works projects. These included the development of various phases of the Junk Bay New Town and Fanling New Town, the formation of a Light Rail Transit Reserve in the Tuen Mun and Yuen Long Corridor, the vehicular border link at Lok Ma Chau (Shenzhen River Bridge), the New Territories Trunk Road system (the section from Au Tau to Fan Kam Road) and the Route 5 highway from Sha Tin to Tsuen Wan (Shing Mun section). The total land acquisition and clearance costs for these projects was about $960 million.
During the year, about $25 million was paid in compensation for land and buildings acquired for various road projects, either under compulsory powers or by agreement, in the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. These projects included the construction of the West Kowloon Corridor (Stage IV), the external road network in connection with the Whampoa Dockyard Redevelopment and the improvement of Victoria Road on Hong Kong Island.
Land Development
In the 1985-6 financial year, land development was still the largest item of expenditure within the Public Works Programme, with some $1,300 million budgetted for new projects to start in the new towns and rural townships in the New Territories and $90 million for Hong Kong Island and Kowloon.-Works included the completion of reclamation and formation of a total of 580 hectares of land in the New Territories and 20.6 hectares in the urban area.
Development of the New Towns and Rural Townships
The impetus for the new towns development programmes was the drawing up, in 1972, of a major housing programme, the objective of which was to provide proper housing for 1.8 million people, the majority of whom would be accommodated in new towns in the New Territories. Since then the new towns programme has been extended into the 1990s and extensive development beyond the 'first generation' of the new towns - Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin and Tuen Mun - is underway in the market towns of the northern New Territories and at Junk Bay on the Sai Kung peninsula. In 1987, major reclamation will begin at Tin Shui Wai in the northwestern New Territories, where a further 140 000 people will be housed by the 1990s. On completion of present development programmes, the population of the New Territories will have risen to nearly 3 million people, compared with the present two million and less than half a million 15 years ago.