They do not understand what they are talking about, that is all - one word: "IGNORANT"!
If they want to convince people about their cause, they have to argue on the correct issue and the reasons given by the govt, and not give such misleading statement, no one will take them seriously!
You may want to read what I wrote previously about why the final payout is so little rather than accuse the govt blindly that the govt is really paying $86 psf for the affected freehold land....
To clarify all these issues for those who are not in the know,
the situation is like this:
1)
Valuers from opposing sides (govt and the owners) had agreed that the market value, based on the residential zoning and plot ratio,
was about $11 million. That works out to be
$1700 psf in Upper Thomson Road area (which is fair value)!
2) What most people don't know is that
there is an old law that says that govt can claim back some money to be compensated because by building some infrastructure through that land, the infrastructure will significantly enhances the value of the land and property owned by those owners. In this case, there is disagreement on both sides what this amount is. Because of this "value-add" discount, that is why the govt side determined that final payout is much less.
3) I believe this
"value-add" discount is flawed as well because it does not take into consideration that the govt is forcing people to sell their freehold land (not leasehold land) to them, and hence the owner, in accordance to the law under "freehold" title, have the right not to sell the govt if the compensation is not made at fair market value. If the land is "leasehold" title, then the govt has the right, but not "freehold" title land, according to English law that we inherited as UK's colony.
In fact,
the govt has since acknowledged that the significant "value-add" discount is flawed, and has since repelled this law early this year.