Private columbarium developers in land lease disputes with the government were shocked yesterday to learn that the government had seized one such site on Lantau Island.
But they said they did not believe the Lands Department's move to take back the 300,000 square foot plot at Tei Tong Tsai was the start of a citywide crackdown. The department refused to say if any similar action was imminent.
Meanwhile, the owner of the Lantau plot said the move was unfair as it had not yet taken in any funeral urns and asked why nothing had been done about others that already had.
A consultant working on a proposed columbarium in Ma Shi Chau said of the government action, formally known as re-entry: 'I am a bit shocked as it is extremely rare for the lands officials to exercise that power.
'Normally they will threaten it with a warning letter but they never really enforce it,' said the consultant who did not want to be named. 'I suspect the move is a deterrent. When there are 10 parties breaching rules, of course you will take down the worst one as a warning to the rest.'
Rita Poon of Lippo Star International, which was developing the Tei Tong Tsai site, said the seizure was unfair and had been so quick and determined that the company believed it was backed by influential parties.
'What did we do? We just put some stones there and then the officers suddenly came and fenced our land,' she said, adding that her views were purely personal. 'Why didn't they resume other illegal columbarium sites already taking in urns?'