Opened in 2004, the Science Park in Tolo Harbour, New Territories, offers 371,612 square metres of office space, housing over 1,100 tech companies from 22 countries and districts.

Currently, the park only provides office space, and its land designated for phase four developments were taken back by the government to build homes in 2014. The park, now surrounded by luxury homes, is looking at the feasibility of reclaiming more nearby land for expansion.

Nicholas Brooke, former chairman of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, said the proposed land grant at San Tin would be more attractive to multinationals.

“When they come to a place, they want to make it their home, but they also want to be able to grow,” Brooke said. “[The plan in San Tin] has that flexibility for multinationals to come and see over 15 to 20 years that they can grow their business into something quite special in Hong Kong.”

Apart from the Science Park, the government also developed the technology hub Cyberport in Telegraph Bay on Hong Kong Island with help from the private sector.

Authorities granted the project to the telecommunications company Pacific Century Group without a public tender in 1999 to build hi-tech offices on behalf of the government.

In return, the company developed about 3,000 luxury homes and was entitled to 35.5 per cent of the profits from the sale.

The facility opened in 2002 and has attracted about 2,000 technology and fintech companies, nurturing more than 890 start-ups as of March 2021. But commentators have expressed concerns over Cyberport being a property project rather than a technology hub.

But Professor Christopher Chao, vice-president for research and innovation at Polytechnic University, said he believed that San Tin would not repeat history. He explained that the lack of digital and fintech industries had hindered Cyberport’s initial growth, forcing it to rely on property development.

“Cyberport had to become a property development to survive. It was inevitable. It has got better now as it has created an industry ecosystem gradually,” Chao said. “When companies in San Tin develop prototypes, they can search for buyers across the border in the mainland. It can serve the market’s demands.”

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He said that the planned San Tin project, which is equivalent to the size of 17 Science Parks, would also have community facilities to create a better neighbourhood for workers to live in but authorities had to do more to lure leading corporations.

“Hong Kong has its dynamics as an international city but subsidies for talent are not attractive enough,” he said, adding that the current monthly living allowance of HK$10,000 (US$1,280) for each I&T worker was too little.

Chao said he hoped the new hub could also house university laboratories and institutes to provide research talent for multinational companies.

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho earlier dismissed concerns that the proposed technology hub was an empty promise given past experience. She said the Executive Council, the government’s key decision-making body, would screen land grant applications and authorities would reveal the policy framework at a later stage.

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Thomas Lee Kin-wah, president of the Hong Kong Institute of Planners, urged the government to speed up a proposed railway development at San Tin slated for 2034 but I&T sites could be allocated as early as 2026.

A MTR railway station at the Science Park is only expected to open by 2033 at the latest, almost three decades after the hub’s opening. Meanwhile, the government is still studying a proposal to extend the MTR to Cyberport.

“Good town planning is not everything, as it still relies on support from other government departments,” Lee said.

He also suggested forming a designated office for arranging officers to follow up on the progress of I&T site development.

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Professor William Wong Kam-fai, a lawmaker and associate dean of the engineering faculty at Chinese University, suggested lowering taxes for I&T firms that were yet to make any revenue in a bid to attract them to the city.

He said the government had to reach out to leading corporations as the city had lost the right to build a semiconductor manufacturing plant to Shanghai about two decades ago.

The plan was backed by investment firm H&Q Asia-Pacific in 1999, with a target to create 195,000 jobs and add US$30 billion to the city’s gross domestic product by 2008. But it was called off as the administration at the time had balked at granting the project any concession terms.

“When we are pushing a new economy forward, such as for I&T, it is very hard to solely rely on the market as it involves high risk and no one is willing to invest,” Wong said. “We need a certain part of the executive-led approach.”

Additional reporting by Sammy Heung