Home of Hong Kong Science Park chief in luxury Redhill Peninsula estate found with unauthorised structures, government land illegally occupied

Hong Kong authorities have found unauthorised structures and illegally occupied public land at a government adviser’s home in a luxury residential estate where rampant abuse of building laws was uncovered earlier, ordering the owner to rectify the wrongdoing.

The Buildings Department and Lands Department on Tuesday said they had entered house No 148 at the Redhill Peninsula in Tai Tam and found illegal structures. Government land was also illegally occupied.

The house is owned by Sunny Chai Ngai-chiu, chairman of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation and a member of the Chief Executive’s Council of Advisers for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Authorities said they would issue a structural removal notice and order the restoration of the government land, and temporarily ban any sale of the house.

Checks by the Post on Tuesday showed that house No 148 had a garden suspected to have been built on government land.

Chai bought the house, which has a gross floor area of 3,339 sq ft (310 square metres), in November 2019 for HK$96.2 million (US$12.3 million).

Satellite images showed work in the garden began in November 2020 and was extended to the adjacent hillside on government land by January 2021.

The extended garden was not there before Chai bought the house in the upmarket estate.

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According to Land Registry information, the extended garden sits outside the lot belonging to the Redhill Peninsula, and there is no record of a short-term lease.

Satellite images also show turf in the garden was cleared away this month, but foundations have not yet been restored.

Veteran structural engineer Ngai Hok-yan told the Post that in Chai’s case, construction that went beyond the lot boundaries could be considered as being on government land.

The Post has approached Chai through the Science Park for comment.

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A landslide triggered by record rainfall last month exposed breaches of planning rules at the upmarket estate. Authorities initially identified unauthorised structures at four seaside houses, three of which were also found to have occupied government land illegally.

The discovery sparked the public’s anger over what was perceived as lax enforcement on luxury properties.

The September discovery triggered an inspection of the remaining 85 homes along the Redhill coastline, with most suspected to have breached building laws. Checks had covered 34 houses with access successfully gained to 20 of them as of Monday.

The government said it would commence another round of inspections later this week.

Chan Kim-ching, founder of the Liber Research Community, an NGO focusing on land and development policy, said it was unclear whether Chai had attempted to restore the government land himself or because of an official order until authorities released a press statement.

“The government should be more transparent on progress,” he said.

Chan added that the government should also charge landowners whose properties encroached on public land and brought additional slope maintenance expenditure.

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Those convicted of continued occupancy of government land for the first time face a maximum penalty of up to six months’ jail and a HK$500,000 fine. They can also be fined HK$50,000 every day until they stop occupying the land.

Upon a second conviction, they face up to six months’ imprisonment and a HK$1 million fine. They can also be fined HK$100,000 a day until they comply with the notice.