The decision brings to an end one of the sorriest sagas in Hong Kong's history. At one stage 60,000 boat people were interned in camps while their pleas for refugee status were being heard. Attempts to repatriate the last of the boat people to Vietnam or to find them homes in third countries have failed. Now, the final 1,400 will be given the opportunity to live and work in Hong Kong.

More than a third of those affected by the ruling know no other existence, having been born behind the barbed wire fence of the Pillar Point camp since their parents arrived from Vietnam. The first boat people arrived in Hong Kong in 1975. The British authorities later declared Hong Kong a port of first call and opened holding centres for those fleeing Communist oppression in Vietnam. At the height of the crisis a total of 60 centres were in operation.

Regina Ip, Hong Kong's secretary for security, said the decision represented the end of a painful era for the former colony. "I think it will help them integrate into our society. And hopefully, we'll put an end to this chapter of Hong Kong history," she said. "We believe that a majority of these people would accept the offer as this is the only option."

The colonial government and its successor repeatedly failed to meet Beijing-imposed deadlines to send back the Vietnamese. Since the July 1997 handover, the Hong Kong government has relaxed security in the holding centres. Internees have been allowed out of the compound to find work.

Conditions at Pillar Point, while spartan, are much better than at the infamous Whitehead Detention Centre, which was the scene of a series of riots in the mid-Nineties. In 1996, 119 Whitehead inmates escaped during a protest at conditions inside the camp. An encampment of temporary military huts in which people slept in bunks three high, Whitehead was closed just before the handover. High Island, also the scene of riots, was shut down a year later.

In Pillar Point's long three-storey blocks, the refugees have at least one room per family. The camp is more accessible than the isolated High Island and Whitehead facilities. However, the buildings in the camp lack heating or air conditioning, which means that rooms are sweatboxes in the summer and ice cold during the winter.

Chan Man-yin, one of the affected refugees, said last week that the proximity of the camp to ferry services and the light railway had enabled him to find employment as a labourer. He said that freedom would enable him to find more work. "Hong Kong is better than other places. If you work hard there's a job for you. I just hope that the identity card can help me to find a job more easily."

Like many of those affected, Mr Chan is a long term resident of the Hong Kong camps. One official said that the average boat person had lived in Hong Kong for more than 10 years. A third have convictions for minor criminal offences. The decision to close Pillar Point will save the public purse almost £2 million a year. Ordinary Hong Kong residents have deeply resented the cost of maintaining the centres. The Government says it is still owed £92 million by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

9 January 1998: Hong Kong to refuse Vietnamese boat people
4 December 1997: China tells Britain to take more boat people
4 January 1997: Boat people cleared out of protest camp
13 May 1996: Police comb Hong Kong hills for Vietnamese Boat people