Last holdouts in village will sign for rail compensation tomorrow
Tsoi Yuen Tsuen residents holding out against the destruction of their village for the Hong Kong-Guangzhou high-speed railway said yesterday they would sign up for compensation packages tomorrow, the deadline for doing so, and would move out of their homes by the required date.
They said this was the last compromise they would make, and was a gesture of good faith that the government would find a site nearby to rebuild their village.
Villager Ko Chun-heung said the 90 remaining families would sign. 'This is the last compromise we will make. We will not make any more compromises,' she said.
The villagers have been refusing to make way for the government to build an emergency rescue station for the cross-border express link. The Legislative Council approved HK$66.9 billion in funding for the construction project in January.
Villagers softened their stance earlier this week, saying they would go if the village could be rebuilt elsewhere to maintain their community and way of life as farmers.
Ko said the villagers would trust the Heung Yee Kuk and the Transport and Housing Bureau to find by March a site for rebuilding of the village, so that they could purchase the site with the compensation money by May and vacate Tsoi Yuen Tsuen by October, the deadline for them to move out.
Meanwhile, kuk chairman Lau Wong-fat said a search for a plot large enough and cheap enough was continuing. 'Pat Heung, Kam Tin and San Tin could be a choice,' Lau said.
A spokeswoman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said the villagers had agreed to work together to relocate the village by October.
The bureau has offered eligible villagers up to HK$600,000 in compensation, or HK$500,000 plus a right to buy subsidised housing without a means test.
Anti-railway activists continue to help the villagers. Planners are helping them draw up blueprints for the new village, including plans for a school, farms and a flea market. They asked the government to provide roads, sewage, water and power.
