105
HKCITY/Zoreign and Commonwealth Office
Dear Mr. Awan,
15 AUG London SWIA 2AH
سلام
No PW 15/0
13 August 1979
At your meeting on 26 July with Mr Blaker you and your colleagues made a number of points about the clearance of buildings at Sai Lau Kok in Tsuen Wan in connection with the construction of the Mass Transit Railway in Hong Kong. Mr Blaker did not see the comments and further information which we have just received from the Hong Kong Government before he went on leave. He will see the papers on his return at the end of the month.
You urged that those still living in the buildings should not be evicted until a fair solution to their problems had been found. Mr Blaker explained that although the notices to quit served on owner-occupiers and tenants expired on 31 July, the Hong Kong Government intended to review the situation before proceeding with the clearance. The position on 1 August was that 493 families - 90% of those involved - had accepted the compensation terms offered to them. Discussions between the Hong Kong authorities and the remaining 50 families are continuing and we hope that agreement will soon be reached. But the clearance of the buildings cannot be delayed much longer, and the Hong Kong Government may be obliged to resort to eviction if some of the people concerned continue to hold out for compensation on a scale which cannot be offered to them under the law.
It
Your second point was that Hong Kong legislation on the resumption of leased land should be revised to provide a fairer system. In particular, you thought it wrong that the owners of flats and shops in the Sai Lau Kok buildings should be compensated at November 1978 prices rather than those prevailing today. It seems to us reasonable that the date when a property is resumed by the Crown should be taken as the base date for the calculation of compensation. should be borne in mind that owners whose property is resumed receive interest at current rates on their compensation, calculated from the date of reversion to the date of written acceptance of the Government offer. I might add that if those who have still not reached agreement with the Government had accepted the compensation to which they were entitled when it was first offered they would have been able, as many did, to buy larger and better flats for little additional outlay.
Robert Parry Esq MP
House of Commons
LOND ON SW1
/Thirdly
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