Hong Kong Development Bureau: Adding new economic forces to the northern metropolitan area to help integrate Hong Kong's innovation and technology with the Greater Bay Area.

On July 2, the Director of Hong Kong Development Bureau, Mr. Ning Hanhao, stated at a legislative council meeting that the development of the Northern Territories is crucial for Hong Kong's society and economic development. The availability of over 3,000 hectares of new development land can help overcome the previous bottleneck of land scarcity in industrial development, accelerate the development of innovation and technology as well as other industries, and create approximately 500,000 new job positions. With its proximity to Shenzhen, the development of the Northern Territories can better leverage the complementary advantages of the mainland and Hong Kong, and more deeply participate in the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. The Northern Territories are also a major source of future housing supply in Hong Kong, providing over 500,000 new residential units. It serves as the "granary" for future public and private housing supply, helping to address the long-standing housing issues in Hong Kong and create a green and livable living space for residents. Mr. Ning pointed out that due to the importance and strategic significance of the Northern Territories, accelerating development has always been the goal of the SAR government. In fact, many aspects of the Northern Territories have already been moving forward, with certain achievements made in various aspects over the past three years. Firstly, construction projects involving over 800 hectares of land in the four new development areas, including Kwu Tung North/Fanling North, Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen, Yuen Long South, and New Territories North Science and Technology City, are in full swing. Over 400 hectares of private land have been recovered in these four new development areas, with 80 hectares of land leveled and subsequently handed over to departments or agencies for the construction of roads, railways, public and private housing, schools, public markets, ecological conservation, as well as the development of innovation and technology industries and other emerging industries. The first three buildings of the Hezuo Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone Hong Kong Park are nearing completion, with the first batch of tenants expected to start moving in in the second half of this year. Industrial land in Hung Shui Kiu and Yuen Long is also under tender for the construction of multi-story modern industrial buildings, to promote the upgrading and transformation of industries such as logistics and assist brownfield operators affected by development. Development proposals for four other new development areas in the Northern Territories, including Luk Lao Shan, Niu Tam Mei, North New Town of the New Territories, and Ma Cho Lung, have also been successively announced, with starting times and sequences for development already established, and work is currently being carried out to deepen the land use proposals. As the development of the Northern Territories enters the harvest period, land and housing output in the Northern Territories will continue to increase over the next five years, including at least 570 hectares of "mature land," around 60,000 residential units, and approximately 1 million square meters of economic floor area. Looking ahead, over the next ten years, these numbers are expected to increase significantly; it is estimated that by then the Northern Territories will produce around 1,700 hectares of land, the number of new residential units completed will increase to 210,000, and there will be over 1 million square meters of economic floor area output, promoting diverse development of various industries. Furthermore, Mr. Ning also expressed several views on the construction work in the Northern Territories. Firstly, regarding land planning. The initial phase of the Northern Territories construction work is primarily focused on planning, specifically the development of industry themes and housing scales for each new development area. With all new development areas having already announced land use proposals, urban planning procedures will continue to be completed in the coming one to two years following technical assessments, indicating that planning work is on track. At the same time, Hong Kong will review zone plans established in the early years in response to developments over the past few years, such as the Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen new development area, considering deeper industry planning and relaxing industrial land use to add flexibility. Secondly, with regard to engineering. Once the planning framework is largely determined, the focus naturally shifts to land acquisition, clearance, and infrastructure projects. The former is currently mainly the responsibility of the government, as land acquisition, compensation, and rehousing have always been government functions, while infrastructure projects such as "three supplies and one leveling" will be partially shared by the market through land swaps or "area development". Thirdly, concerning industrial land use. The guidance of government policies and market participation are key to the industrial land use. The most effective combination of government and efficient market practices in terms of roles and structure needs to be determined.