ENG-2014 — Page 247

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Planning, Land and Infrastructure

structures and extensions were demolished by the Squatter Control Unit, in addition to unauthorised structures cleared by other sections of Lands Department in the context of land control and lease enforcement.

In 2014, the department handled 10,820 cases of reported unlawful occupation of government land, of which 7,936 cases required site clearance (including clearance by the occupiers in response to the department's enforcement actions), and 1,138 cases of breaches of lease conditions.

The Lands Department's Tree Unit provides in-house advice on tree and landscape issues relating to leased land, and on tree maintenance matters relating to the health and structural condition of trees on un-leased and unallocated government land not taken up by other departments. The unit handled 4,673 cases concerning trees and landscape issues on private and government land in 2014.

Land Conveyancing

The Lands Department's Legal Advisory and Conveyancing Office provides legal advice and conveyancing services for government land transactions. These include drafting of all government land disposal and lease modification documents and checking of titles in land acquisitions. It also processes applications for sale of units under construction under the Lands Department Consent Scheme. In 2014, 36 applications were approved. Of them, 31 applications related to residential developments, involving a total of 12,836 residential units. The office also approves Deeds of Mutual Covenant. In 2014, 54 such deeds were approved. It also processes apportionments of premium and government rents, and recovers arrears of government rents by taking re-entry or vesting action.

Land Acquisition

Acquisition of private land for public use may be achieved through voluntary surrender, where appropriate, or resumption under the relevant ordinances which provide for compensation for the property's value and for the loss of business. If agreement on the amount of money to be paid cannot be reached, either party may go to the Lands Tribunal for adjudication. Some 111,774 square metres of private land, all being agricultural land, were acquired in 2014. Compensation amounting to $682.9 million was paid.

The Lands Department was also involved in the resumption of land for urban renewal projects. In 2014, compensation totalling $173.9 million was paid under the relevant ordinance to owners of 58 resumed properties affected by 14 urban renewal projects. Compensation amounting to about $19 million was paid for a number of railway projects, including the Hong Kong section. of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the West Island Line, and the South Island Line East.

Land Registration

The Land Registry provides a comprehensive service for registering documents affecting land and keeping land records in electronic format for public search. Over 2.9 million land registers. and 22 million documents can be retrieved electronically.

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