In her policy address on Wednesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor proposed the construction of a huge metropolis in the northern New Territories. This is in addition to the Lantau Tomorrow Vision reclamation project, which estimates suggest could cost up to HK$1 trillion (US$128.4 billion). If the Lantau project is a fairy tale, adding the Northern Metropolis to it makes the whole undertaking a farce. Lam claimed in her policy address that, upon full development of this metropolis, 905,000 to 926,000 flats – including the existing 390,000 homes in Yuen Long and North districts – would be available to house a population of about 2.5 million people. Using the census bureau’s forecast of 2.7 occupants per household, that would mean housing an additional 1.4 million people. Lantau Tomorrow will house an estimated additional population of 700,000 people. Together, these two projects will house an additional population of 2.1 million people. Hong Kong’s population, which is about 7.39 million people now, is projected to rise to a peak of 8.1 million people in 2041, an increase of only about 700,000. That’s not even considering the expected continued emigration. Where will these people come from? Mainland people who come under the one-way permit scheme can’t be expected to fill up the numbers since the scheme is in decline. Mainland professionals have more opportunities in other communities of the Greater Bay Area than Hong Kong. Those who choose to work in this new metropolis will probably live in Shenzhen with less expensive housing and better quality of life, commuting to work via the planned rail link that will connect these two neighbouring communities. Those who are poor cannot afford to live in Hong Kong. If this additional 2.1 million residents comes via a migration from other districts in Hong Kong, the property value of these other districts will fall. With the plan for a Northern Metropolis, Lantau Tomorrow’s role has been recast to be an extension and expansion of the Hong Kong Island-centric business and financial community. This makes a mockery of the Lantau part of the project, being geographically located in the middle of the sea about 4km away from Lantau and from Kennedy Town in Hong Kong. Its reorientation towards Hong Kong Island makes it laughable to insist that it is a bridgehead to the Greater Bay Area to the north. Without a clear strategy in developing a new central business district there as planned – and so far there is not – few businesses will locate their operations there in the middle of the sea, connecting to Hong Kong via only one tunnel with no history, culture or neighbouring community to organically grow from. Tom Yam, Lantau