Hong Kong’s hi-tech hub near border will destroy 89 hectares of wetland, affect 56,000 trees

Civil Engineering and Development Department releases environmental impact assessment report on the tech hub’s construction with proposed mitigation measures

Government pledges to create 338 hectare San Po Shue Wetland Conservation Park to make up for site’s loss

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An aerial view of the San Tin area, earmarked for a home for hi-tech businesses and 50,000 flats. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 10:22pm, 3 Feb 2024Updated: 11:35pm, 3 Feb 2024

Hong Kong’s plan to build an innovation and technology (I&T) hub near the border with mainland China will mean the loss of 89 hectares (220 acres) of wetland, an environmental impact assessment report has said, and an expert warned the move may put the area’s ecology at risk.

The report added about 1.7 hectares of woodland would be lost, with 56,000 trees either cut down or transplanted to make way for the proposed San Tin Technopole in Yuen Long, close to Shenzen.

The government has said it would create a 338 hectare San Po Shue Wetland Conservation Park to make up for the site’s loss, but experts on Saturday said they feared it could be an empty promise.

“The report is disappointing … the whole world is moving towards greater conservation of wetlands, but the government is moving in an opposite direction,” Kristy Chow Oi-chuen, a campaign officer at the Conservancy Association, said.

Sam Po Shue, part of the wetland area included in the Northern Metropolis development strategy. Photo: Dickson Lee

“The conservation park will only be finished in 2039. This may run the risk of becoming an empty promise and fail to serve its conservation purposes.