Only a handful of illegal private columbariums have sought to legalise their operations during the past year, ever since the government published a list that named and shamed them.
Just 10 out of the 65 dubious operators have filed retrospective planning or land approval applications to the Town Planning Board as of the end of September to legalise their niche facilities in accordance with land use laws, an update from the Development Bureau shows.
They are asking the board to approve a total of about 74,000 funeral-urn niches - some already sold and occupied - in their facilities in the New Territories. None has secured approval so far, as most of the applications will be processed next year.
'The lukewarm response indicates they [operators] don't even want to take steps to make things right,' said Eddie Tse Sai-kit, from the Columbarium Concern Group.
Those who did send applications should discontinue their illegal operations first, Tse said. 'The board can't be so schizophrenic as to give approval to those who need to rectify their wrongdoings first,' he said.
The government released the first name-and-shame list to give more information to potential buyers of urn niches sold in the private sector. It shows 31 operators fulfilling both land and planning rules. Of the 65 who run foul of the law, only three have been sanctioned by the Planning Department.