Chief Executive John Lee has said he is “confident” that investors in the government’s Northern Metropolis development project will see good returns, after the city’s business sector signed a letter of intent to support the large-scale development scheme.
Lau Fau Shan in Hong Kong. File photo: GovHK.
Lee said on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting with his Executive Council: “We have organised visits and also discussions over the development plan of the Northern Metropolis. Particularly, we have been introducing and explaining to enterprises and investors the concept of three big pockets of land for development.”
The government says the “large-scale land disposal” approach will enhance participation and speed up development.
Last month, Lee said developers were free to decide whether to participate in government infrastructure projects after Beijing’s point man on Hong Kong affairs Xia Baolong urged tycoons to “actively” contribute to the city’s development, prompting questions as to whether such demands signalled a shift from Hong Kong’s free market principles.
Executives from Hong Kong real estate giants including Sun Hung Kai Properties, Henderson Land Development, and New World Development were present at the closed-door meeting with Xia, the director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office (HKMAO).
Chief Executive John Lee at the 2024 Policy Address press conference on Wednesday, October 16, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Those developers were among more than 80 enterprises that signed a memorandum of understanding about supporting and participating in the project last Friday. At the signing ceremony, 35 representatives also signed agreements to contribute to the development of the Northern Metropolis, involving more than HK$100 billion in investment.
Expressing intent
The 30,000-hectare Northern Metropolis housing and business hub in the city’s northern New Territories, along the city’s border with mainland China, will cost more than HK$224 billion, the government estimated in May.
An exercise to invite expressions of interest will begin this month, while the government will finalise tender details at a later stage. Tendering work for the three pilot areas will be carried out from 2025 to 2026, according to a government statement.
“There are big opportunities there, because Hong Kong is being developed into different centres of excellence,” Lee said on Tuesday in response to a reporter who asked if developers who had signed the memorandum but did not invest in the project would face penalties.
Lee announced during his Policy Address in October that Hong Kong’s third medical school will be build on a site in Ngau Tam Mei, an area part of the Northern Metropolis project.
