HK Composite: Starting from Shenghe Leading

Chapter 556 Big Business

From a political perspective, Hong Kong Island and Kowloon were ceded in the early days, while the New Territories were forcibly leased by the British Hong Kong government. Therefore, for the Hong Kong government, the future of the New Territories is full of uncertainty, and they may be forcibly taken back.

In contrast, Hong Kong Island and Kowloon do not have such concerns, and these two factors are enough to deter the Hong Kong Island government from taking any action.

Secondly, the local indigenous people in the New Territories have Ding rights.

What is Dingquan?
A few years after the riots in 1967, the British Hong Kong government began planning to develop the New Territories.

In order to gain the support of the indigenous residents of the New Territories, the then British Hong Kong government implemented the "Small House Policy" in December 1972.

It is stipulated that male Hong Kong indigenous people who are over 8.23 years old and whose paternal lineage is descended from residents of recognized villages in the New Territories in the s can apply once in their lifetime to build a three-storey ( feet/ meters high) village house within the recognized area, with an area of ​​no more than square feet per floor, without paying land premium to the government.

Simply put, as long as the building is within the regulations, the government will provide the land free of charge and you only need to pay to build the house.

At the same time, the government established "restrictions on purchase, sale and transfer clauses."

It is stipulated that if indigenous residents who own small houses want to sell or transfer them to non-indigenous residents, they must apply to the government for land premium compensation and obtain the written consent of the Director of Lands.

The land for building small houses is usually located in villages or farmland in the New Territories or outlying islands. Other areas are not eligible.

According to estimates by the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk, there are 240,000 male indigenous residents who have the right to apply to build small houses.

The Rating Ordinance enacted in 1973 stipulates that houses within rural areas, including small houses, are exempt from payment of rates.

In 1987, the government amended the regulations, requiring small houses and village houses to obtain exemption certificates issued by the Lands Department before they could be built.

The emergence of the small house policy has meant that as long as the indigenous people of the New Territories continue to give birth to sons, the Hong Kong government will need to provide a piece of land as a ding right!

Theoretically, as long as time is long enough, the land in the New Territories will eventually become the property of the descendants of the New Territories indigenous people.

After all, they can keep having children as much as they want, but the land is limited and will be completely occupied sooner or later.

Under such circumstances, who in Hong Kong would dare to propose developing the New Territories?
Not to mention other obstacles, just the spit of the people in the New Territories alone is enough to drown someone!

If history continues to develop, in a few decades, more than half of the Hong Kong government's nearly 2,000 hectares of land reserves will be reserved for the construction of "in-houses" for the New Territories indigenous people.

The indigenous people of the New Territories only need to give birth to one male child to build a spacious house of 210 square meters, not including the rooftop, garden, garage and other areas.

Such a big house would be considered a luxury house even in mainland China, not to mention in Hong Kong where every inch of land is valuable.

What is this concept?
This is equivalent to 60% of Hong Kong's land being owned by 10% of the population.

At that time, the average living area of ​​Hong Kong residents was less than 13.9 square meters, and housing prices were shockingly high, ranking among the highest in the world.

Not only that, this policy has also spawned a land privilege class unique to Hong Kong, with many people choosing to resell "ding rights" to developers as a way to make money.

Moreover, many years later, a large number of New Territories residents have already moved overseas, but due to the lack of policy restrictions, no matter whether the "male child" grew up and lived in Hong Kong, or spoke Chinese, as long as he is over 18 years old, he has the right to return to Hong Kong to acquire land and build a building, and both the "Ding rights" and the built house can be resold.

Because many people have no use for the "ding rights" in their hands, village chiefs in the New Territories sometimes take the lead in cooperating with developers to collect the villagers' ding rights and build luxury houses for sale.

Many villagers do not mind selling their Ding rights - in Hong Kong, where the fertility rate is stagnant, many indigenous families have many children, and it is not uncommon to have nearly ten children.

From the buyer's perspective, there is no difference between a townhouse and a villa.

But from the developer's perspective, buying 'Dingquan' is much more cost-effective than purchasing low-density residential land from the government, and there are far fewer restrictions on construction.

Even taking into account the purchase of land rights and land premium compensation, this is still an extremely lucrative business.

Decades later, in the Fanling area of ​​the New Territories, for example, it cost about two million Hong Kong dollars to purchase a Dingwu villa including the land price. Adding the resale procedures and construction costs, the total cost of a "Dingwu villa" basically did not reach four million.

But the selling price is usually as high as eight to ten million Hong Kong dollars!

In some locations with superior landscapes, it is not uncommon for “small houses” to be transformed into luxury homes selling for tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars, with profits as high as 200 percent or even more!
Seeing Lin Zehao fall into deep thought, Wei Yixin understood that he must understand the pros and cons of this.

Taking a deep breath, Wei Yixian began in a deep voice: "According to statistics from the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk, there are a total of 240,000 male residents in the New Territories who have the right to live in a "Ding House". As they continue to have children, the demand for Ding Houses is increasing."

"Your son has his son, your son has his grandson, and your sons and grandsons are endless."

"The government currently reserves more than 1,200 hectares of land for "village-style development". If it is used to build three-storey houses, only about 90,000 houses can be built."

"However, if this land reserve were used to build ordinary high-rise residential buildings, assuming an average of 600 square feet per unit, it would be enough to build more than 1.3 million residential units."

"Based on the estimated annual demand for new housing, it will be able to meet Hong Kong's housing needs for at least the next 50 years."

Lin Zehao raised his eyebrows and said, "You can't blame others for this. It was you who occupied their land in the first place."

You should know that before the British Hong Kong government colonized the New Territories, the land was privately owned by the people of the New Territories.

After the British Hong Kong government colonized the country, it turned the land into public property, which naturally caused dissatisfaction among the people of the New Territories. Protest marches and even violent conflicts were common at the time.

After all, land is the foundation. If you occupy someone else's foundation, they will definitely fight you to the death.

At this time, the so-called Dingwu policy came into being.

Although the official tone was that it was to solve the housing problem, in Lin Zehao's view, it was nothing more than welfare and appeasement from the British Hong Kong government to the residents of the New Territories.

This is a hereditary right, how could ordinary people refuse it?

"Alas, I must admit that Lai Dunyi, then Director of the New Territories Civil Affairs Department, was definitely a short-sighted villain."

"I don't know what made him come up with such a policy."

The "Tinghu Policy" has created endless troubles for the government. If this policy is not changed, the government will have to keep looking for land for the descendants of the indigenous people to build Tinghu. "

"In Hong Kong, which is so small, this policy is simply unsustainable."

"In the end, half of Hong Kong's land will belong to people in the New Territories."

Wei Yixin is not just pretending. The land issue is actually a difficult problem that every Hong Kong government has had to face in recent years.

In fact, the government and the New Territories indigenous people have been mediating on the issue of Ding rights for many years.

The New Territories occupy most of Hong Kong's area. The indigenous residents who live in family communities are powerful, and the New Territories Heung Yee Kuk, which represents the interests of the indigenous residents, holds an even more important position in the political arena.

In comparison, the government is quite weak - the Hong Kong government had previously attempted to rectify and demolish 4- and 5-storey village houses (regulations do not allow more than 3 storeys), but this was met with strong opposition from villagers, who even went further to demand that the illegally built village houses be legalized.

In the future, with the soaring property prices in urban areas and the deteriorating living environment, the issue of "land privilege", which had not received enough attention, has been brought to the table and is simply unavoidable.

It even leads to the "urban-rural confrontation" sentiment being ignited and intensified.

After all, the housing area of ​​most Hong Kong residents is less than 30 square meters, while the average person in the New Territories lives in a luxury house of more than 200 square meters.

We are all from Hong Kong. Why do people in the New Territories live in luxury houses, drive luxury cars and enjoy a perfect life from birth? Why are you so old?

The greatest worry is not the scarcity of wealth but the inequality of wealth.

"I personally feel very sorry for this situation." "However, I am not a politician, nor am I one of those officials with big bellies who can't button their suits. I am just a businessman, and you are visiting me to discuss business."

"What's business?"

“It’s essentially just a transaction.”

"What do you need from me? What can you bring me?"

Lin Zehao slowly lit a Cuban cigar with an elegant movement, and handed one to Wei Yixin at the same time, exhaling the fragrant smoke, "Of course, we are friends, and we have a certain relationship."

"But don't use the so-called people as a banner, otherwise you will be disrespecting me."

"Business is business. Don't tell me that you are doing this for the so-called social stability and prosperity."

"Tell me, how do we negotiate this deal?"

Lin Zehao really doesn't like people who want everything. Ninety-nine percent of politicians are basically like this.

They want to make money, but they also want to talk about fairness and integrity; they want to appoint people based on personal connections, but they also say that everything is the choice of the people.
Good man, he said everything.

Lin Zehao is well aware of the power behind Wei Yixin. It’s just that his term of office is almost over and he wants to make a big profit in the end.

By the way, it's just to solve some historical problems and gain some good reputation.

They are all thousand-year-old foxes, and they insist on playing Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio here.

Faced with Lin Zehao's frank and honest words, Wei Yixin couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed, and even his face, which he thought was invulnerable, began to show signs of getting hot.

However, he was an old politician after all. After a brief silence, he quickly adjusted his mood and said with a smile: "Mr. Lin is really insightful. I am ashamed of myself."

"We need Mr. Lin to take action and deal with those troublesome uncles and elders in the New Territories, and make them sign the government contract and agree to give up their Ding rights."

"After this is done, half of the land in the New Territories will belong to Mr. Lin."

Finally, Wei Yixin gave a price.

When the plot is revealed, the dagger is revealed.

The reason why he asked Lin Zehao to discuss this business was very simple.

Looking throughout Hong Kong, only Lin Zehao is qualified and capable of handling all of this.

If you want to force the indigenous people of the New Territories to give up their Ding rights, it will be useless to use official means alone.

Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.

Only the combination of violent underworld tactics and a series of official actions can deal with those stubborn old men.

"You guys have a really good plan. You made me the bad guy. You won't stand up and pretend to be the good guy in the end, right?"

"What's more, most of the New Territories are mountains. Even if I were given half of the land, it would require a lot of investment to develop it."

The New Territories are located in the northern part of the Hong Kong River and are the largest part. Together with the nearby small islands, they cover an area of ​​975.1 square kilometers, accounting for nearly 90% of the area of ​​the Hong Kong River.

However, most of these are mountain ranges.

The central part has Tai Mo Shan as its apex, and there are also Needle Hill and Grass Hill; the southern part has Ma On Shan as its apex, and there are also Fei Nge Shan and Lion Rock; the northeastern part has Pat Sin Leng and so on.

That is to say, much of this land is invalid land.

Even if it is possible to develop it, it will require breaking through the mountains and building roads, and the cost will increase accordingly.

Moreover, the real estate market in Hong Kong is currently in a very good momentum. Once the New Territories are taken over, the real estate market will inevitably fall drastically.

The reason why housing prices are expensive is basically because of their rarity.

To put it simply, there is a lot of people and little land, so it would be abnormal if the prices were not high.

If the Ding rights in the New Territories were to be abolished, anyone with a discerning eye would realize that it would be a waste and a disintegration of natural resources if such a large area were not developed into real estate.

Once there are too many houses, the rarity will be destroyed and the price will definitely drop drastically.

With all this going on, Lin Zehao may not make any money, and he will also have to bear the blame.

To cooperate with the government is to seek the skin of a tiger. There is no need to think that the other party will definitely throw dirty water on him in order to whitewash himself.

Of course, Lin Zehao would not fall into such a trap.

Cooperation is possible, but it must be done in a different way.

"Mr. Lin is joking. We sincerely want to cooperate with you."

"After all, looking at Hong Kong Island, who else can raise their hands and stand up to solve this problem?"

"Only you have this prestige, only you have this ability, and only you can convince everyone."

Wei Yixin's words were not simply flattery, but truly came from his heart.

Of the so-called four major gangs in Hong Kong Island, Tung Sing and Hung Hing have now completely become a thing of the past.

Although Xin Ji is still there, it is inevitable that it will go downhill. Under the impact of new products, Hai Luo Yin's business is not doing well either.

What's left are just the big and small letters, no one can do anything to anyone else, and none of them are convinced of each other.

If the Hong Kong underworld must choose one person who can convince everyone, it can only be Lin Zehao.

No matter what they thought in their hearts, no one dared to say a word of opposition.

Although the natives of the New Territories are not gangsters, as long as the uncles and elders in each village raise their arms and call for action, those young guys will really dare to fight to the death with their weapons.

Royal Harbour Island Police?

They don't even look at you!

Let me ask, in this situation, who else can we turn to if not Lin Zehao?

Therefore, this business has been an absolute seller's market from the very beginning.

Because Wei Yixin can only cooperate with Lin Zehao.

There is no one else.

(End of this chapter)