The first phase, with 600 rental flats, is expected to be completed in about five years and create 800 jobs. Facilities such as clinics and care homes will also be built to cater for the needs of the elderly.

Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said yesterday the project was the first of its kind.

'This innovative plan includes a guesthouse. As the scenery is beautiful in Tin Shui Wai, I believe youngsters are going to come and visit their elderly relatives,' she said.

Housing Society chairman Yeung Ka-sing said the Integrated Elderly Community Project was aimed at creating job opportunities.

In return for the land, the Housing Society will return a lot on Tsing Luk Street, Tsing Yi, which it bought for about HK$370 million.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung described the project as 'out of the ordinary'.

He said the wide range of facilities would benefit locals, and the medical facilities could be attractive to those who visited Hong Kong for medical tourism.

The project is part of the government's wider plan to create jobs and revitalise the economy in the northwest New Territories, distant from the city and home to a large number of less-well-off new immigrants.

However, Tin Shui Wai Development Network chairwoman Chung Yuen-yi said she had reservations about the number of jobs that could be created through the project.

'Elderly-related jobs are likely to be part-time jobs. For example, a domestic helper only gets to work for a few hours from time to time.'

Even if the number of jobs to be created was correct, the project would provide little help to the unemployed in the new town.

'There are about 20,000 unemployed people in Tin Shui Wai,' she said. 'Eight hundred jobs could only help very few people in this sense.'

Meanwhile, the government is calling for expressions of interest for the development of recreational and commercial facilities on 30,000 square metres of land nearby.