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Land Survey Bill
Following is the speech by the Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands, Mr Bowen Leung, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday) on the resumption of the second reading debate and at the committee stage of the Land Survey Bill:
Second reading of the Land Survey Bill
Mr President,
I am grateful to the Honourable Edward Ho, the convenor of the Bills Committee on the Land Survey Bill, for supporting the Bill, and to other Members of the Bills Committee for their careful and detailed deliberations over the last 11 months.
The Land Survey Bill seeks to provide for the registration and discipline of land surveyors engaged in land boundary surveys, for the control of standards of land boundary surveys, for the establishment of land boundary records and for related
matters.
In the course of the Bills Committee's deliberations, Members raised concern over clause 30(1). This clause requires any deed, conveyance or other instrument in writing effecting a division of any land and delivered in the Land Registry for registration to be accompanied by a land boundary plan. The plan should show and delineate the parcels of land resulting from the division and be signed and certified by an authorized land surveyor. There was concern that this provision would affect the rights and interests of land owners.
I would like to assure Members that the Bill does not affect or change the law relating to entitlements to land and interests of land owners. A system of registration of deeds is provided under the Land Registration Ordinance. Such deeds are, as a normal practice, accompanied by plans. Clause 30(1) of the Bill only requires that such plans must accompany the deeds and be signed and certified by an authorized land surveyor where the deeds concern divisions of land.