No need to worry, HK minister tells land lessees
No need to worry, HK minister tells land lessees
Leases are not the only things to worry about come 2047…
A government official has sought to allay developers’ fears that leased lands granted by the British Hong Kong Government will not be recognized in 2047, when 50-year capitalist concessions under the Sino-British Declaration come to an end, the South China Morning Post reported.
Writing in his blog on Sunday, Secretary for Development Paul Chan Mo-po saw “no need for people to frighten themselves.” He referred anxious residents to Article 123 of the Basic Law, which authorises the Chinese SAR to renew leases “in accordance with laws and policies formulated by the region on its own.”
“I especially would advise small property owners not to so easily believe rumours such as ‘you will automatically lose your property rights after 2047’ so as to avoid selling property based on such false information, and incurring losses,” he stated.
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Chan’s reassurances come almost a month after he told the the Post that “people have no need to be afraid,” considering that leases were extended even after their expiry in 1997 when the UK transferred sovereignty over Hong Kong to China.
Other government officials are concerned over whether the Chinese SAR will be able to retain democratic liberties by 2047. “It’s not just land leases,” lawmaker-elect Cheng Chung-tai on Sunday told the Post. “Will our common law system, our Court of Final Appeal disappear over night? Will the one country two systems become ‘one country, one system’? These are the biggest considerations.”
In 2014, Hong Kong was rocked by a series of street protests, collectively known as the Umbrella Revolution, in defiance of the Beijing government’s plans to vet nominees of the 2017 elections.
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Source: Property Report