Northern Metropolis land resumption to start by 2027
Development Secretary Bernadette Linn on Monday said the government plans to release all its land development proposals for the Northern Metropolis in the coming year or so, adding that it will start the land resumption procedures for all the projects by 2027. In his Policy Address last week, Chief Executive John Lee said the 30,000-hectare metropolis will be divided into four areas, with a high-end professional services and logistics hub, an I&T zone covering the San Tin Technopole, a boundary commerce and industry zone, and a blue and green recreation, tourism and conservation circle.  More than 60 hectares of land have been earmarked for tertiary education, but Linn told a press conference that the authorities are still deciding whether this should be for self-financing or publicly funded institutions.  She was asked whether the government will have enough money to pay for the various projects planned, given the rising fiscal deficit. "In the Policy Address, we have made it very clear that there will be a new set-up led by the financial secretary to look into the financing options for the mega infrastructure projects. So I'm sure that through that set-up we will be able to recommend a good combination of measures that will help finance the projects that we have in hand," Linn said.  Linn was also asked what will be done to offset the loss of wetland near Yuen Long for the development of the San Tin technology hub. "When the hills present for us some constraints, inevitably we have to make the choice of going into some of the wetland. But that doesn't mean that we are going to erode the quality of our wetland systems because more and more we want to go towards the policy of active conservation. That is, through active measures, we will be able to bring about quality wetlands with the quality sufficient enough to offset any negative impact created by the development," she replied.