Jake's View | Lok Ma Chau Loop has nothing to do with hi-tech – it’s all about profit
A deal with Shenzhen to jointly develop an innovation and technology park is more about property development and making big money from transferring the land to Hong Kong’s jurisdiction
Start-ups in China’s IT hub Shenzhen have warned that Hong Kong might take too long to build a joint innovation and technology park at the Lok Ma Chau border, given how rapidly the sector is developing.
SCMP, January 5
Let’s get it straight. This is not about innovation and technology. This is about property development and a clever idea for making big money from it by transferring land from Shenzhen to Hong Kong jurisdiction.
The Lok Ma Chau Loop is an 87-hectare piece of land that used to be on the Shenzhen side of the Shenzhen river until a loop of the river was straightened out and it came to be on the Hong Kong side of the river. It was then transferred to Hong Kong jurisdiction.
Almost immediately there then arose a clamour from Shenzhen that it be intensively developed. At one time it was to be a heavy equipment exhibition fairground, then an office district, and now an innovation and technology centre.
Strangely, however, while our government regularly announces some new scheme to permit development, the direct owners of the land have never yet been identified, not by themselves nor by our government officials.