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Rural body given plot without need to pay a land premium

A new controversy  looms after it was revealed the Heung Yee Kuk may be granted a site free to build its new headquarters in Sha Tin.  Legislators warned the government against  cronyism over the granting of the site to the rural body without payment of land  premium.

'I hope Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen will tackle the issue with sensitivity, otherwise the public will ask if the land is in exchange for the kuk's support of government policies,' said Democratic Party chairman Lee Wing-tat.

The kuk plans a new headquarters on the 40,000 sq ft  On Muk Street  site in Sha Tin, arguing  its existing office in Kowloon Tong is too small.

Under the plan, a three-storey  building would house a museum and a public hall. The Kowloon Tong plot would be sold to pay for construction of the building.

The kuk asked for the land to be granted through private treaty and free of premium.

Yu Kam-hung, chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors' general practice division, said a private treaty meant the land would not go to public tender or auction, but did not affect the premium. 'It depends on what sort of organisation it is; whether it serves the general public or a small circle of people.'

Daniel Heung Cheuk-kei, a member of the kuk's executive council and a cousin of its chief executive, is in charge of the project.

The Post earlier reported that the Executive Council would soon discuss the deal, which it is understood would be forwarded  for council approval early next month.

Legislator and kuk vice-chairman Cheung Hok-ming said in Legco yesterday the land would be granted soon and the government had not discussed a premium payment with the kuk.

'We will sell the Kowloon Tong land and it will give us $60 million. We raised $10 million from overseas Chinese, and many in Hong Kong also gave us donations which amounted to another $10 million.'

More money was needed for a trust to pay for the building's operation, he said. Mr Cheung said the offices of the kuk's 27 rural committees were also on government land, with nominal monthly rents of $1.

A spokeswoman said the kuk had been asking for a new site for over a decade, adding that the plot in Sha Tin was one of two from which the government had asked it to choose.

'We picked the one at On Muk Street, but then we heard nothing from the government. Then a year ago the Home Affairs Bureau asked us to give them a proposal,' she said.

Emily Lau Wai-hing,  of The Frontier, the chairwoman of Legco's Finance Committee, said: 'The government needs to explain why it is not going to charge  land premium.'

But independent legislator Albert Chan Wai-yip  said that as a statutory body, the kuk was entitled to get the land free.



Questions over kuk's free Sha Tin site