TNAG-0642-FCO40-790-Kowloon-Walled-City-and-aircraft-safety-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 101

G.F. 323

16.

CONFIDENTIAL **

機密

(b) The status of the buildings in the Walled City could hardly

fulfil the conditions implicit in the compensation policy

formulated for the purpose of 'acquisition and clearance

of land'. The obvious question is the 'legality' of

these 26 buildings. Since as a matter of policy these

buildings were constructed without prior approval of B.0.0.,

these buildings are therefore illegal structures, the

For

owners of which have no proper titles to the land.

lack of a better description, the buildings in the Walled

City are in effect 'multi-storey squatter structures',

therefore domestic occupiers of these 'squatter buildings'

built entirely after 1964 could hardly qualify for 'rehousing

in a public housing estate' since such privilege is given to

'domestic occupiers of a building or structure previously

built legally on land held under lease or licence or included

in a squatter control survey'. Therefore the only 'compensation'

for the affected residents in the buildings in the Walled

City would be 'space in a licensed area'. Cash compensation

is therefore out of the question.

Needless to say, this will

not be accepted by those affected as 'equitable compensation'.

Nonetheless, it is proposed that approval of the Executive Council

and Finance Committee be sought that, in view of the exceptional circumstances

of the Walled City, the compensation policy described in para. 14 above

should be applied to these 26 buildings. These special circumstances lie

in the unique history and political sensitivity of the area. In addition

there are the following humanitarian considerations:-

(a) The human and political impact of the sudden social

dislocation of residents.

(b) Government's moral obligation to the residents, in view

of the fact that the offending buildings had not been

effectively controlled when they were under construction.

CONFIDENTIAL

機

Accordingly,

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