TNAG-0322-FCO40-358-Construction-of-underground-railway-system-in-Hong-Kong-1971 — Page 46

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XCC(71)39

Thus, in the last two years, during which time property development has been accelerating, in only 7 cases has it been necessary to stop or require substantial modification to the development proposed. It is possible that claims may yet be made in respect of increased costs of special foundations (see Category 4 under paragraph 7) and, indeed, in one case the Finance Committee has just recently approved expenditure in the order of $600,000 on this account. However, no claims have so far been received for compensation.

PROTECTION OF ROUTES

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General

It may be argued that there is insufficient justification at this time to protect those parts of the routes not due to be built until the later stages of the Freferred System. However, the cost of acquiring the bare sites now is likely to be less (even after allowing for interest) than acquiring them after development in, say, 10 years' time. In addition, it would be advisable to avoid unnecessary economic and social disruption during the construction of the various stages. For example, a 22-storey commercial/ residential building is proposed at Shaukiwan directly across the proposed Island Line (Stage 8 of the Preferred System). This part of this route is not scheduled for construction until 1981. However, the possibility of Govern- ment having to demolish what would, at that time, be a comparatively new building occupied by many hundreds of people should be avoided even if this means acquiring some sites which may not ultimately be required. In this event, they could always be re-sold.

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Foundations

Some comparatively minor alterations to the foundations of buildings over the routes of the Freferred System may be sufficient to protect the routes and it is considered that the Director of Public Works should continue to ask developers to consider incorporating necessary alterations when building plans are submitted; and, if necessary, compensation for any additional works should be paid even though, in the event, such expenditure may be nugatory. There will, however, be a small number of cases where acquisition of part of a site may be necessary to prevent the particular route being built over. In such cases, Government has a choice of acquiring the whole or a portion of the site: in the latter case, the land thus acquired is unlikely to be capable of alienation at a later date and the cost of acquisition would not be capable of being offset by subsequent sale in the event that the railway is not proceeded with. These cases will have to be examined on their merits bearing in mind the fact that the number which is likely to arise between now and about the end of the year, when it is expected that a decision will have been taken on the Further Studies Final Report, will be very small,

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Cost Estimates

The Further Studies Final Report (Volume I, Table 17. 7) indicates that the net cost of acquisition for both the Initial System and the

CONFIDENTIAL