TNAG-0806-FCO40-1011-Policy-of-Government-of-Hong-Kong-on-land-in-the-New-Territo-1979 — Page 114

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Interchangeability of Letter B

9.

As stated in paragraph 6(b)(i) any Letter B

entitlements can be used to acquire land in any New

Territories layout; but this was not always so. Originally,

each District issued its own Letter B, which could only be

used to acquire land within specified layouts in the

District. This was logical, as land-owners who contributed

their land towards a specific development area might

reasonably expect to participate in the development of

that area. Conversely, there is little reason why e.g.

the owner of lots surrendered for, say, Shek Wui Hui

development should expect to participate in the develop=

ment of Sha Tin. In the early days of the development of

Tsuen Wan/Kwai Chung (which pioneered the Letter B

system), great care was taken in the planning of urban

development areas to ensure that lands for exchange

purposes were formed together with lands for public

housing estates and other Government purposes, to ensure

that sufficient land would be available within a reasonable

time of resumptions to honour exchange commitments.

But,

in other districts, notably Yuen Long, very large areas

of land were surrendered for various purposes under Letter B

for which no new building land could be made available

for local exchanges. Because of the difficulties caused

by having a large commitment to Letter B holders without

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