************************************************************
Following is a question by Hon Albert Ho Chun-yan and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, in the Legislative Council today (February 25):
Question:
Regarding the regulation of developments in country parks and marine parks, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) as it has been reported that in recent months, some people have felled trees in Tai Lam Country Park on the pretext of agricultural land rehabilitation, and the area of the land involved (part of it being Government land) is close to 20,000 square metres, whether the authorities have followed up the case; if so, of the details (including whether prosecution has been instituted against any person);
(b) of the number of complaints received by the authorities about illegal felling of trees in country parks and marine parks, the area of land damaged, the respective numbers of persons who were prosecuted and convicted, as well as the penalties imposed on those convicted, in the past three years;
(c) in respect of each country park and marine park, of the total area of private lands and the area of such lands being covered by development permission area plans/outline zoning plans made under the Town Planning Ordinance (Cap. 131);
(d) whether private lands in country parks and marine areas are subject to the regulation of the Country Parks Ordinance (Cap. 208) (CPO) and Marine Parks Ordinance (Cap. 476) (MPO); if not, of the existing ordinances which govern the change of the use of such lands;
(e) of the number of complaints about illegal change of the use of land within country parks and marine areas received by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department in the past five years; among such complaints, the number of those involving unlawful acts, as well as the respective numbers of those in which the persons concerned were prosecuted and convicted;
(f) whether, in the past decade, the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation, as the Country and Marine Parks Authority (the Authority), had requested under section 16 of CPO the Director of Lands, as the Land Authority, to exercise the powers conferred by that section to have any use or proposed use of any land within the precincts of a country park that would substantially reduce the enjoyment and amenities of the country park discontinued; if so, of the details of each case;
(g) of the number of new private development projects within marine parks approved in the past five years by the Authority in writing under section 10 of MPO, together with the nature of such projects; and
(h) whether, in the past five years, the Government had assessed if the existing CPO and MPO were effective in protecting the ecology of the lands concerned; if so, of the assessment results?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the eight parts of the question is as follows:
(a) The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) found on November 15, 2008 that evacuation and plant removing works were carried out on a piece of land near Tin Fu Tsai inside Tai Lam Country Park. The area of the land involved is approximately 13,000 square metres (1.3 hectares), most of which is private land except some 400 square metres of government land. Investigation on the above works conducted by the Lands Department has concluded that there was no breach of the lease conditions of the private land. However, the AFCD has put up warning signs and stone column barriers on the government land. Inspections have also been carried out twice a day on the government land where no offences have been further spotted. Our investigation so far has not collected sufficient evidence to support prosecution. That notwithstanding, AFCD will continue to monitor the development of the case.
(b) From 2006 to 2008, the Government has received 26 complaints about illegal felling of trees in country parks, with a total of 127 trees felled. There were 3 conviction cases in relation to the illegal tree felling activities over the said period and the fines involved were HK$ 1,450 in total.
The AFCD did not receive any complaint about illegal felling of trees in marine parks over the said period.
(c) Most of the private land inside country parks is old scheduled agricultural lots recorded in Block Government Leases and has been deserted for a long time. At present, there is no private land inside marine parks. Details of which are summarised in Table 1.
(d) Private land in country parks is subject to the regulation of "Control of use of land in country park" (i.e. Section 16 of the Country Parks Ordinance), while the development of private lands in marine parks is regulated by Sections 10 and 21 of the Marine Parks Ordinance.
(e) Between 2004 and 2008, the AFCD received two complaints about illegal change of the use of land within country parks. One was about an unauthorised structure in Kam Shan Country Park, which has been demolished. The other was about an unauthorised structure in Sai Kung East Country Park, and the demolition work is nearing completion under the joint operation of the AFCD and District Lands Office/Sai Kung.
The AFCD did not receive any complaint about illegal change of the use of land within marine parks between 2004 and 2008.
(f) In the past decade, the Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation, as the Authority, invoked Section 16 of the Country Parks Ordinance once to raise objection to an application of change of the use of private land within Plover Cove Country Park. The details of the case are summarised in Table 2.
(g) In the past 5 years, the Authority did not approve any new private development projects under Section 10 of the Marine Parks Ordinance.
(h) According to the results of the AFCD's biodiversity surveys, of the species-groups surveyed and analysed, over 95% of the common local terrestrial and fresh water species are habitants in Hong Kong's protected areas (mainly country parks). Findings of regular coral checks and fishing surveys conducted in marine parks also show that the ecology of marine parks is better than that of outside-park areas. We therefore consider that the existing Country Parks Ordinance and Marine Parks Ordinance are effective in protecting the ecology of the territory.
Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Issued at HKT 17:16
NNNN
