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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Wong-fat and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mrs Carrie Lam, in the Legislative Council today (January 20):
Question:
Will the Government inform this Council of the current number of temporary structures which the Government permits to exist, broken down by the type of the structure and district (i.e. Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Territories East and New Territories West, etc.), and, among such structures, the respective numbers of those which can be used for dwelling and for other purposes?
Reply:
President,
Currently, temporary structures tolerated by Government to exist are broadly classified into two types, namely those with surveyed numbers for the temporary squatter structures given by Government in 1982 (commonly known as "squatter huts") and those temporary structures held under licences, short-term tenancies and short-term waivers issued by the Lands Department (Lands D). A breakdown of these structures by district and the above types (by approximate figures) is shown in the annex.
The second part of the table in the annex lists the numbers of licences/short-term tenancies/short-term waivers issued by the Lands D, and in some of these cases, more than one structure may have been erected. Also, some licensed structures on such land may concurrently have squatter surveyed numbers, but Lands D does not have statistics on the number of such structures.
Ends/Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Issued at HKT 14:36
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