Consultancy urges more details on San Tin Technopole
A property consultancy said on Wednesday that the government needs to provide more details about the Northern Metropolis’ San Tin Technopole I&T hub project, to attract investors. In a report, Colliers Hong Kong said the government should first allocate land to leading companies and well-regarded start-ups.  "In the first stage, we can have a direct land grant to those I&T enterprises or those unicorn companies to drive their investment interest into Hong Kong, to try to make Hong Kong more attractive and competitive [than] other regions in the Asia Pacific," Kathy Lee, the firm's head of research said. "In the later phase of the development, we can have some other mechanism to leverage on greater market capitals and more private sector investment into the San Tin Technopole or even into the Northern Metropolis."  The firm said various I&T fields have their own spatial, technical and regulatory requirements and the government should therefore allow flexible plot ratios, land uses and size requirements to satisfy the various needs. Hannah Jeong, head of the firm's Valuation and Advisory services, said the government should also clarify how it plans to initiate dialogue with potential investors and new companies, and what flexible land lease system will be adopted. "Currently all the land sales are done by tender and the highest bidder will get the land, and the government was quite clear that they will not do the same model for this Northern Metropolis or San Tin Technopole. But still it's quite uncertain how long the land leases will be or what price level they are looking at," Jeong said.