Campaign against unlawful land occupation intensified

Government has no obligation to regularise the illegal occupations by short term tenancy.

According to a release, Chief Secretary Carrie Lam says the Government agrees that land is a scarce and valuable resource in Hong Kong, and it must conduct control actions effectively to protect government land from being unlawfully occupied.

Speaking at the Legislative Council today, Mrs Lam reiterated the Government considers it unacceptable for people to first occupy government land unlawfully and then apply for a short-term tenancy in an attempt to regularise the situation after being detected.

District Lands Offices will make clear to the applicants the Government has no obligation to regularise the illegal occupations by short term tenancy, or to suspend land control actions pending decisions on the short term tenancy applications, and will reject applications if they are considered unjustified.

She added the Government is reviewing the Land (Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance and formulating legislative amendment proposals to increase penalties against the offences to achieve greater deterrent effects. "We will also examine the possible introduction of a system of daily fines."

The Lands Department has assigned a team to take over from the 12 District Lands Offices the outstanding cases received between July 2007 and December 2009, to enable them to focus on handling cases received in recent years.

It is working on upgrading the Land Control Information System, with a view to completing the project in 2014. It will also step up regular risk-based inspection programmes to protect government land from unlawful occupation.

Meanwhile, Mrs Lam said the Home Affairs Bureau will consider drawing up further qualitative and quantitative performance targets to measure the contribution of Youth Square to youth development in consultation with its management advisory committee.

The bureau is exploring the possibility of putting some of the less utilised areas of Youth Square to more gainful uses, and is considering setting focal themes for the square to distinguish it from other youth-related facilities and to boost youth patronage.

"The Home Affairs Bureau has already published the operating results of the Youth Square on its website. The administration will keep LegCo informed of the operating results of the Youth Square through reporting to the LegCo Panel on Home Affairs."

She added the bureau will review Youth Square's management and operation mode next year. The review will address Youth Square's positioning, including its overall rental strategy. It is expected to be completed by next year's third quarter.