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Lau Wong-fat has done it again.
His brokering of a solution to a row over access to a site where the displaced villagers of Tsoi Yuen Tsuen are building new homes underpins the political clout of the New Territories patriarch.
As Lau announced at the Heung Yee Kuk's spring reception yesterday that a deal had been struck with an unnamed donor who bought the road, villagers and officials praised him for his contribution to resolving the dispute.
The villagers also thanked Lau.
 'All the glory belongs to Uncle Fat [Lau],' Undersecretary for Transport and Housing Yau Shing-mu said. 
Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng said the kuk was in the best position to mediate. 
Construction of Tsoi Yuen New Village in Yuen Kong, Pat Heung, has stalled for the 47 families displaced by work on building a high-speed  railway line between Hong Kong and Guangzhou. No vehicles had been allowed to use the private 500-metre road - the only access to the new village from the main road - and talks had been deadlocked. The road is owned by 18 different parties.
Leung Kam-ting, a relative of Lau, and four others sought HK$500,000 from the families to use the road. But the figure jumped to HK$5 million in December because someone else wanted more money. 
At the reception, Sha Tin Rural Committee chairman Mok Kam-kwai handed Lau a petition asking him to remain the kuk chief. Mok said the resolution of the dispute showed the significance of Lau in the New Territories. 'There is no  substitute for Lau. No matter what, I will give my vote to him in the kuk's election,' he said. 
Lau was embroiled in a scandal in September after it emerged he failed to declare a series of property transactions. Yesterday the 73-year-old. who is also a legislator and member of the Executive Council,  said he had learned his lesson. 
'Last year on the same occasion [at the spring reception], I joked that officials were going to have a hard year,' the kuk chairman said. 'Then my negligence in public services put me at the centre of public discussion. I learned a lesson and have a more in-depth understanding of the city's political culture.'
 He failed three times to include information on his land and property portfolio in his declarations of interests to the Executive and Legislative councils. The latest files show he owns more than 600 plots of land. 
Lau subsequently faced his first political challenge in 51 years of service as a representative of Lung Kwu Tan, Tuen Mun. He beat two challengers last month by a margin of 200 votes.



Kuk 'king' Lau praised for pulling another rabbit out of his hat