TNAG-0672-FCO40-821-Legislation-for-Crown-lands-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 136

CONFIDENTIAL

機密

XCC(75)60

11

It is not proposed that this offer should be extended retros- pectively as it is not appropriate to change the terms of offers already made and accepted, particularly as many of the old exchange entitlements have changed hands several times since issue. Because of the incidence of resumption dates, however, it is proposed that the offer should be extended to all those who have had Letters 'B' issued since 1st September 1975, as the period for acceptance of these offers has not yet expired.

Summary

12

The establishment of a cash compensation alternative to the

Letter 'B' system is now unavoidable because:

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

(e)

insufficient land can be made available for exchanges within a reasonable time;

the present cash compensation offered is extremely low and has not altered a great deal over the last fifteen years whereas land values generally in the towns have increased, in some cases, a hundred fold;

the existence of an ex-gratia cash scheme in New Kowloon has already set a pattern of which New Territories landlords are aware;

the diminishing lease term will increasingly become a factor in private development decisions;

increased dissatisfaction with, and resistance to, resumption in the New Territories towns can be expected if the system is left unchanged; this could cause serious delays to the New Towns development programme.

13

The basis of compensation should be the present cash value of Government's exchange offer: it should be payable partly as com- pensation assessed under sections 11 and 12 of the Crown Lands Re- sumption Ordinance and partly as an ex-gratia award to bring total compensation up to the agreed level. The level of total compensation should be kept under review in the light of the land market and the current values of exchange rights.

Public relations aspects

14

This change if approved will be of great interest to the people of the New Territories, and the Governor proposes to make

C.S. 166

CONFIDENTIAL

機密

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