Letters | Greater Bay Area blueprint addresses Hong Kong’s persistent shortage of land

Hong Kong does not have enough land to meet its housing needs and also lacks space for development. China’s plan to link 11 cities in the Pearl River Delta region offers solutions to these problems

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Hong Kong’s integration with Shenzhen and eight other cities in Guangdong province could be the answer to its shortage of space. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 9:35am, 7 Mar 2019Updated: 9:35am, 7 Mar 2019

On February 18, China’s State Council laid out its plan for the “Greater Bay Area”, naming Hong Kong as one of the key cities in the new economic hub (“China’s State Council reveals details of Greater Bay Area plan”, February 19). The Greater Bay Area blueprint notes that “Hong Kong lacks sustainable and stable support” for economic development and mentions the “constraints on resources” in the region. In Hong Kong, one of these constraints is a shortage of space for development.

Currently, Hong Kong’s 7.5 million people live and work in only 276 square kilometres of land. Hong Kong’s Task Force on Land Supply believes the shortage of land is “urgent and dire”. The Greater Bay Area can play a role here.

The recently released blueprint asks Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macau to “promote coordinated regional economic development”.

The measures suggested include developing “enclave economies” to facilitate “relocation of industries in the pan-[Pearl River Delta] region”, “national innovation demonstration zones”, “national hi-tech development zones” and “an industrial belt for advanced equipment manufacturing”. All these address Hong Kong’s need for land, while easing the flow of resources.

Proposals for such cooperation are not new. On January 27, 2018, Chen Yiwei, Huizhou’s then-municipal party secretary, said at a meeting of the 13th National People’s Congress of Guangdong province: “Huizhou hopes to cooperate with Hong Kong through making full use of Hong Kong’s innovative resources and Huizhou’s industry advantages, and, therefore, building special cooperation zones to create a highland of innovative industries.” Cheng Yiu-tong, a Hong Kong delegate to the National People’s Congress, last year proposed renting 30 square kilometres of land in Huizhou to build housing for 600,000 Hongkongers while implementing Hong Kong laws.