LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES
165
For development in the New Territories, a system of ex-gratia payments applies with enhanced rates paid for land situated within the new town development areas and progressively reduced rates paid for land situated outside these areas. In the case of building land, an ex-gratia payment is offered in addition to the statutory compensation.
The need for land for development has continued to grow, and during 1986, some 1.2 million square metres of private land was acquired in the New Territories to carry out various public works projects. These projects included the phased development of Junk Bay New Town, the block resumption of land for Tin Shui Wai development, the redevelop- ment of the Old Town Centre at Tsing Yi Island, Kwai Chung Container Terminal No. 6 development, and the rural public housing development at Sha Tau Kok. The total land acquisition and clearance costs for these projects was about $1,200 million.
In the urban areas of Hong Kong Island and Kowloon, about $10 million was paid in compensation for land and buildings acquired during the year, either under compulsory powers or by agreement. The projects involved included the Eastern Harbour Crossing, the Princess Margaret Flyover, and the Hong Kong Island Eastern Corridor Stage III.
Land Office
The Land Registration Ordinance provides for the registration in the Land Office, a Division of the Registrar General's Department, of all instruments affecting land. Registra- tion is effected by means of a memorial containing the essential particulars of the instrument which are then placed on a register card relating to the particular piece of land. Register cards are kept also in respect of individual premises such as residential flats, shops and commercial and industrial premises. The register cards, as a result, provide a complete picture of the title to each property from the grant of the government lease and are available for search by the public in photostat form on payment of a small fee. The memorials and a complete copy of each registered instrument are kept and are available for search in microfilm form by the public, again on payment of a fee.
The Land Registration Ordinance also provides that all instruments registered under it shall have priority according to their respective dates of registration. This provision applies unless they are registered within one month of execution, in which case priority relates back to the date of the instrument. In the case of charging orders made by the court and pending court actions, priority runs from the day following the date of actual registration. The ordinance further provides that unregistered instruments, other than bona fide leases at a rack rent for a term not exceeding three years, shall be null and void as against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee for valuable consideration. Registration is therefore essential to the protection of title, but does not guarantee it.
The records of transactions affecting land on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon, New Kowloon and some of the urban areas of the New Territories are kept at the Land Office, Victoria, while those relating to transactions affecting land in the remainder of the New Territories are kept in the appropriate District Land Offices, of which there are eight, in the New Territories. During the year, 292 796 instruments were registered at the Land Office, compared with 262 934 in 1985. Detailed statistics are at Appendix 29. At the end of the year, the card index of property owners contained the names of 536 017 owners, an increase of 37 174 over the previous year.
Work on the computerisation of the information on the Land Office register cards, with a view to introducing a computerised land registration system, continued on schedule during the year, and conversion into computerised data began in November. This exercise is expected to be completed by late 1988.