Transparency and accountability key to Hong Kong’s technopole success
- Huge plan to make Hong Kong an international innovation and technology centre also promises badly needed homes, but the government has to get all the details right
Hong Kong has rich experience in delivering mega infrastructure projects. But for a strategic plan as challenging as the Northern Metropolis development, there are good reasons to be extra cautious.
With hundreds of hectares of land to manoeuvre under the national drive to make the city an international innovation and technology (I&T) centre, the stakes have never been higher. It is important for the government to get all the details right.
The ambitious blueprint has moved a step forward with details of the so-called technopole in San Tin having been tabled before the legislature. About half of the 627 hectares, an area equivalent to Shenzhen’s tech hub or 17 science parks, near the border has been set aside for strategic uses. At least 165,000 jobs will be created.
The site will also provide between 50,000 and 54,000 homes, 70 per cent of which will be public flats, and can accommodate up to 159,000 people.
The project is not the first of its kind. What sets it apart is not just the scale, but also the significance.
The blueprint was tabled by former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to complement the national 14th five-year development plan that supports turning Hong Kong into an international I&T hub.