Science park boss urges Hongkongers to support Lok Ma Chau Loop project with Shenzhen
Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun claims the IT hub will boost investment in Hong Kong and increase local employment opportunities
The head of Hong Kong’s science parks has urged the public to lose their “inner demons” regarding the city’s cooperation with the mainland and support the planned Lok Ma Chau Loop science and technology hub with Shenzhen.
Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, chair of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), brushed off suggestions that the Shenzhen/Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Park – announced earlier this month – would unfairly benefit Shenzhen. She insisted it would boost foreign investment in Hong Kong and increase employment opportunities for the city, where there is no shortage of talent.
“We are hoping to attract elite researchers from overseas and Hong Kong, concentrate them in one place and in specific areas, be it robotics or automation,” Law said on a local radio programme on Sunday.
“I believe once this cluster effect manifests, the effectiveness will be a lot higher,” she added.
A subsidiary of the HKSTP, which also runs the Sha Tin park, will be set up to construct and manage the new park.
Law said the project would be a huge opportunity for Hong Kong as it will link numerous technology research and investment companies to a key production centre right across the border.
“There’s a situation in Hong Kong right now that’s not very good – it’s that anything that involves cooperation with the mainland is perceived negatively ... We need to be able to see the benefits,” she said.
Watch: an overview of Lok Ma Chau Loop
“This is a blank slate. I hope Hongkongers can let go of the inner demons haunting them [about cooperating with the mainland] and help build this place together.”
On January 3, the city signed the landmark deal with Shenzhen to develop the park, with the mainland side accepting Hong Kong’s jurisdiction over the 87-hectare site for the first time since the 1997 transfer of sovereignty. The project is expected to take more than seven years to finish.
Responding to concerns that control and benefits of the park would rest with Shenzhen, Law said the land was now firmly in Hong Kong’s jurisdiction and the park falls under the laws and systems of the city.
The HKSTP chair made an appeal to lawmakers to approve funding for the project in order to speed up its development, and said answers to all their questions would be given along the way.
“We can discuss, consult and deliberate it on the way,” she said.
