Owners want to build on land hit by dumping

The owners of about half the lots affected by unauthorised dumping at a Sheung Shui village want to build houses on their land and have no intention of farming it again, a rural leader says.

At least 10 of the owners of the 23 affected sites at Ho Sheung Heung have applied to the government for permission to build small houses, the chairman of the Sheung Shui Rural Committee, Bowie Hau Chi-keung, said yesterday.

The committee has been working with the land and owners since the dumping came to public attention last month. It has levelled the debris - some of which was found to have come from a government construction site - and two weeks ago planted much of the area with saplings in an effort to prove it could be farmed again. But yesterday Mr Hau said: 'About half of the owners are not going to farm the land again anyway.'

Checks with the Planning Department found that applications to change at least three of the affected lots from agricultural to residential use had been approved by the Planning Department in July and September last year.

Under the small house policy governing New Territories land, owners have to seek approval from the Lands Department to build a home. But they first need planning permission from the Planning Department.

Meanwhile, the committee's claims that the debris-covered land can be farmed were called into question yesterday when it was found that about 40 per cent of the recently planted fruit-tree saplings are dying.

The leaves of the ailing plants have shrunk and turned yellowish, while the fruit, mainly papaya, remain attached to the stems. But Mr Hau said the young trees were dying because of the stormy weather that had hit the city this month.