On Tuesday, the South China Morning Post reported that the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department will not review the boundary of the Hoi Ha Wan Marine Park even though the Lands Department recently resurveyed the coastline to clarify the relationship of the park with the coastline and, in particular, with plots of old agricultural land that have recently been proposed for development. The new survey showed that the coastline has shifted due to erosion over the past decade.
People who are familiar with the area have raised a number of interesting issues. They say the present coastline is essentially the same as before the marine park was created in 1996 and the erosion is not recent. The erosion occurred when sand was removed for use in previous town construction projects. The government has known for some time that seawater is inundating private land there.
The redrawn map has the coastline nearer the village, and some plots of land on the seaward side of the line are no longer shown. However, people in the village say the sea has encroached even further and some plots on the new map are now partially or wholly inundated.
What is the law governing inundated private land; in other words, land which has become the sea? In many jurisdictions, the sea belongs to the state. This means inundated areas become state property. It is unclear what the law is in Hong Kong and there seems to be no precedent for a decision. The question that needs to be clarified in the present case is whether the owner of the inundated plots has lost the right to the land.
The land is apparently owned by a Japanese company called JHC Capital through its local arm, Asian Financial Asset Investment, although land registration has not yet been completed, indicating some uncertainties. Presumably, the owner will wish to develop the area once this inconvenient issue is settled, since the company's website promotes luxury villa development at Hoi Ha.
So, lots of money is involved. Once officials have sorted out which plots of land are inundated, the law can be applied. If the law needs to be clarified, surely it can be done so relatively quickly, and this will determine what should happen next.