While I am a known staunch supporter of the construction of the high-speed railway linking Shenzhen, I am not supportive of paying too much compensation to reacquire the land in Tsoi Yuen Village for the future repair yard.

The compensation package is too complicated to set out here. In sum, however, it was a whopping HK$2 billion for 25 hectares of agricultural land in a remote area of the city. This was unprecedented and government officials assured us this is a special case that will not re-occur in the future.

While we fully understand the sentimental value of homeland to the 160 households living there for decades, and the hardship involved in their relocation, together with the pressure for a quick settlement on the part of the government to avoid further delay in the much overdue construction, the rules are there and there is a limit to how much they should be bent. Most people across the political spectrum agree that this time our government is bending too much, and it will inevitably set a bad precedent for the future.

Many of the much publicized Ten Major Infrastructure Projects are still in their preliminary stage, and land reacquisition will soon take place in many different parts of Hong Kong. It is unimaginable that the current compensation package will not be used as a reference. In particular, people will make all kinds of excuses to build another “special” case for special treatment, and in the course of doing so, some politicians will be more than happy to lend their helping hands to win votes and influence public decision.

Over-compensating the landlords and tenant villagers in Tsoi Yuen Village will make future negotiations much tougher and of longer duration, and the government will always end up paying more to those who shout the loudest, and who have politicians as their allies. This in turn will spill over into other areas and invite more protests, which will further enhance our culture of crying babies, protesting for anything and everything.

This will become a vicious cycle.