Some people in Tung Chung have illegally placed containers to live or operate shops on the agricultural land
The relevant situation is not uncommon in the New Territories. The Lands Department received about 4,200 complaints about unauthorised structures last year. About 2,700 of them occupied government land and about 1,500 were unauthorised structures on private farmland.
The newspaper has found that some ten container estates were illegally placed in a farmland in Sheung Shui
It was used as a “parallel city” for stocking and distributing goods. The top is equipped with solar panels for self-sufficiency; The high-rise container combination house provides seven mortuary rentals for students and grassroots families. There is also a barbecue yard in Sheung Shui with a container house as a “VIP room”. It provides entertainment facilities such as Mahjong Terrace and Karaoke to diners. The Lands Department has confirmed that the container houses at the above locations are unauthorised and contraband structures.
Inciting to avoid prosecution
Lawyer Lu Weixiong said that the main use of agricultural land should be farming. According to the land lease, no one may construct structures on agricultural land without approval, including container homes, regardless of whether they are used for living, retail or storage. He said that some people think that they can evade law enforcement by using bricks to “close the ground”. In fact, they are deceiving themselves. The Lands Department can issue warning letters, contractual deeds to landowners and even levy land by the Government Land Rights (Re-entry and Restitution) Ordinance.