No changes planned to small-house policy: Lam

Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor reiterated on Friday there was no plan to change the small-house policy entitlement to the New Territories villagers.

The development secretary, responsible for land planning, had been quoted by the South China Morning Post as having a "plan" to lift the house building right for male indigenous villagers born after 2029.

The right of villagers is protected by article 40 of the Basic Law, but it was acknowledged by various secretaries after the handover that limited land supply within the city means the right to build small houses will be limited over time.

Given that the Basic Law has stated the structure of Hong Kong will remain unchanged for 50 years, Lam appeared to suggest that the villagers' right, promised by the mini-constitution, can end in 2047.

The front page story on Wednesday sent a shockwave among villagers.

Lau Wong-fat, lawmaker and the head of Heung Yee Kuk, told reporters on Thursday that though the Kuk did have a conversation on the small-house policy's future with Carrie Lam, it was an informal exchange of personal opinions.

Lau retold his concern on Friday. "The Basic Law stated that the Special Administrative Region would enjoy 50 years of the Capitalist way of living and system. (What Lam said) has undermined people's confidence on the protection of the Basic Law," he said.

Lam reacted quickly, saying that there was no official plan to "take away anything" from the villagers.

"I admitted (in the interview) that there was one subject on which the file was not opened during my five-year's work. How could there be a proposal or decision made?" she told an RTHK program on Friday morning.

Later she contended that a personal interview was not exactly an occasion to explain government policy.

"As a responsible official, I cannot stop the reporter from raising the question because I have done nothing on it," she said. "I was only giving my thoughts on the subject in the past five years. That's it."

The only government view on small-house policy, as Lam said, was that the matrix of problems on legality, villagers' rights and land resources was deemed too difficult to tackle.

Though she was aware that the remarks have triggered "anxiety" in the New Territories and acted to cool the furor, she stressed the review of small-house policy has always been a concern of the Legislature, which monitors the administration.

"Probably (we) should ask the lawmakers whether they can accept this type of response all the time on a matter that they are concerned about," Lam said. In the end, she hopes there will be time and space for the public, including villagers, to look into the subject.

"Most importantly, if we can sit down and explore the issue with the top stakeholder — the Kuk and my village friends — it probably is good for the overall interest of Hong Kong," she said.