The Great Difference: Hong Kong's New Territories and Its People 1898-2004

8 - Village Removals for New Town Development 1960 Onward: Resitings and New Modes of Compensation [Includes Image Plates]

8 Village Removals for New Town Development 1960 Onward: Resitings and New Modes of Compensation Following on, this chapter describes the rather different compensation policies evolved for the resumptions and village removals required to bring about urban and industrial development in the New Territories. The process began in Tsuen Wan–Kwai Chung from 1959–60 onwards, and continued into the following decade during the build-up of the “New Towns” programme. Ultimately there would be no fewer than nine of these by the end of the Lease, completed or still under construction.1 The impact of the programme on the indigenous community, and its reactions, will also be examined and assessed. PART I: VILLAGE RESITINGS IN TSUEN WAN–KWAI CHUNG AND LATER FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT Making a Start Lying close to Kowloon and facing onto the western approaches to Hong Kong Harbour, Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung were the obvious geographical areas for initial expansion.2 The first statutory outline plan “for a selfcontained industrial township of 650,000 people to be developed over the next 15 to 20 years” was exhibited for public consultation in September 1961, and was approved under the Town Planning Ordinance in 1963.3 Extensive areas of seabed would be reclaimed in each place, and old villages would be removed. However, there was a most unwelcome complication in that squatter housing and squatter industry had got there first, especially in Tsuen Wan.By the mid-1950s the population had risen to 98 The Great Difference around 80,000 persons, and was steadily increasing. A losing battle was being fought with often desperate newcomers who had little regard for authority. Control over land use had to be restored in order for planned development to proceed. Resulting from experience gained earlier in clearances in New Kowloon, it would also be necessary to provide alternative housing for those persons (mostly squatters on Crown and private land) who would have to be removed first. All in all, Tsuen Wan was conceivably the most difficult place to start the process.4 Avoiding “Reservoir Terms” in Urban Village Removals Faced with the massive cost of what amounted to more or less a complete redevelopment , the reservoir-style “total compensation” package, with all replacement houses built by the Government and all village holdings resumed and compensated, presented the authorities with an awkward and unwelcome precedent. From the outset, it was considered vital to adopt different, and less expensive, policies for urban development. This might be achieved by withholding some benefits from the resiting package, and by going about resumptions in a different manner. First, the authorities sought to withhold government-built accommodation in village removals for urban development. Here, the fact that the Tai Lam Chung and Shek Pik villagers had so recently removed to Tsuen Wan, into government-built accommodation, was an embarrassment. The local villagers knew what had been done for them, and not unnaturally pressed for the same treatment. Second — and the most significant part of the difference between the two policies — was the decision to resume villagers’ agricultural and other land only as and when it was needed, and not at the time of removing and resiting each village. This, in itself, was not difficult to arrange administratively. All resumptions for a public purpose had to be approved by the Governor in Council, with the necessary funds voted by the Legislative Council. In resumptions for urban development, care would be taken to request resumptions only for projects already in the Public Works programme and ready for implementation — as was, in fact, the usual practice. However, as with reservoir clearances, all village removals and resitings for urban development must also be voluntary.5 This would have to be achieved through negotiation, and with the villagers’ agreement to build the replacement dwellings, and other structures like ancestral halls, under their own arrangements, using the compensation money paid them for their old Village Removals for New Town Development 1960 Onward 99 buildings. It would also be necessary to persuade village landowners to accept that (as indicated above) their agricultural and all non-building land would only be resumed and compensated as and when it suited the government. These were the requirements of the new policy to be implemented in Tsuen Wan in 1959–60. How to induce their acceptance was the task facing my superior, Ronald Holmes, District Commissioner New Territories at that time. Implementing the New Policy As...