3.
Monday, November 6, 1972
The Government will ensure that in the event that any tannery
operator does not conform to this time-table, the tannery will be cleared
from Sheung Shui.
The spokesman said that land for the new factories in Kwai Chung
will become available from April or May next year and it is estimated that
the factories will take two years to complete.
The Governor in Council has decided that where landowners took
positive steps to evict tanneries by court action or where the tannery
operators themselves took steps to buy land in the Offensive Trades Area
in Kwai Chung, the agricultural land at Sheung Shui will be returned to
the original owners subject to the payment to the Government of the cost
of clearing the tanneries.
Clearance costs would not, however, be necessary in the case of
the tanneries voluntarily cleared by November 28. In the remaining cases
the land will not be returned to its previous owners.