Northern Metropolis or ‘castle in the air’? Critics mostly agree on direction of Hong Kong leader’s policy blueprint, but question cost of grand plans

Name: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam gives last policy address of current term, ending on emotional note
Uploaded: 2021-10-06T23:00:23.000Z
Duration: 3 min 43 s
Description: Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam gives last policy address of current term, ending on emotional note

Carrie Lam does not give an estimate on cost of mega project, but suggests it will be financially sustainable

Lack of definite figures leads observers and lawmakers to voice fears scheme could end up being financial burden on city

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Chief Executive Carrie Lam holds a press briefing after her policy address. Photo: Sam Tsang

Ng Kang-chungandChris Lau

Published: 7:00am, 7 Oct 2021Updated: 1:30am, 20 Oct 2021

Hong Kong’s leader is taking the city in the right direction with her ambitious Northern Metropolis proposal and other measures to boost economic development, analysts and lawmakers have said, while also urging her to elaborate on how to finance such plans.

A political observer argued, however, that Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor had missed an opportunity in her policy address on Wednesday to reflect on her inadequacies and mend the social divide.

In the speech, Lam’s fifth and final one for her current term, the city’s leader proposed building a metropolis near the border which can yield up to 926,000 flats, more than 40 per cent of which had already been planned in some new developments in Yuen Long and North districts in the New Territories.

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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam gives last policy address of current term, ending on emotional note

Lam did not give an estimate on how much the project would cost, but suggested it would be financially sustainable.

The lack of definite figures led observers and lawmakers to voice fears the mega project to develop 300 sq km could end up being a financial burden on the city, as Lam had in a previous blueprint already proposed a massive reclamation plan, the Lantau Tomorrow Vision.

Witman Hung Wai-man, principal liaison officer for Hong Kong at the Shenzhen Qianhai Authority, hailed Lam’s Northern Metropolis push as a plan to fit the city into the development of Qianhai and the Greater Bay Area. But he expressed worry that red tape could derail the mega project.

“The direction is correct but how the plan is to be executed is an issue. If Hong Kong still follows the old way of developing, going through endless studies, zoning and consultation, the Northern Metropolis will only remain a castle in the air,” Hung said.