The coverage of the frontier closed area will be cut to about 400 hectares from the existing 2,800 hectares, the Security Bureau says. The related fence and road works will be carried out in four phases from 2009 to 2012.

The initial review of the frontier closed area coverage in September 2006 proposed releasing all the land south of the existing boundary patrol road, with only the boundary patrol road and areas to its north including the Lok Ma Chau Loop and Hoo Hok Wai area, the Starling Inlet plus the areas with points of crossing remaining within the frontier closed area. This would cut down the closed area to about 800 hectares.

Having consulted the Heung Yee Kuk, Town Planning Board, Advisory Council on the Environment, relevant district councils and rural committees from September to November 2006, the bureau has decided to excise the Lok Ma Chau Loop, measuring about 100 hectares, and the adjacent Hoo Hok Wai, measuring about 300 hectares, from the frontier closed area. This will reduce the closed area to about 400 hectares.

The existing Drainage Services Department maintenance road to the north of these two areas will be used as the boundary-patrol road. A primary boundary fence and secondary boundary fence will be erected along the opposite sides of the road.

2 villages to be released

With the exclusion of these two areas from the frontier closed area, Tak Yuet Lau and Ha Wan Tsuen will be released, meeting the local community's aspirations. Two patches of land northwest of Lin Ma Hang Village and north of Pak Fu Shan will be excised from the closed area in response to suggestions from the rural community.

Given the security risks associated with the lack of proper boundary checkpoint facilities and a physical barrier to delineate the boundary between Hong Kong and the Mainland at Chung Ying Street, as well as continued smuggling activities and illegal immigration at Sha Tau Kok, the bureau said it is necessary to maintain the frontier closed area restrictions in the town. However, the closed area boundary at Sha Tau Kok will be pushed northwards, to the entrance to Sha Tau Kok town.

The bureau will discuss with the local community options allowing tourists to use the Sha Tau Kok public pier for going to the outer islands and the east coasts of the northern New Territories.

Phased approach

A phased approach would be adopted to implement the new frontier closed are boundary so that the land involved in the earlier phases could be released as soon as possible. The construction of section one from Mai Po to the Lok Ma Chau Control Point and section four from Lin Ma Hang to Sha Tau Kok may proceed concurrently at the end of 2009 for completion around the end of 2010.

The construction of section two, between the Lok Ma Chau checkpoint and Ng Tung River, will start at the end of 2009 for completion in the third quarter of 2011. Work on section three, which will run from Ng Tung River to Lin Ma Hang, will start at the end of 2010 after the completion of the land-resumption procedures. It should be completed around the end of 2012.

The Planning Department is examining the development potential and constraints of the land to be released from the frontier closed area, to formulate a planning framework for preparing statutory town plans to guide the conservation and development of the land based on the principle of sustainable development.

The study includes a strategic environmental assessment, the findings and recommendations of which will offer input for formulating an environmentally acceptable planning framework.

The study will be completed in mid-2009, before the new frontier closed area boundary comes into effect. The conceptual plan for the area to be released from the frontier closed area is expected to be ready for consultation in the first half of this year.