Policy Address
III. New Paradigm for a New Future
Introduction
19. To cater for local population growth and to meet the needs of economic development, the Government has put in enormous efforts in town planning over the past half-century, including developing new towns in Tsuen Wan, Sha Tin, Tai Po and Tuen Mun in the early years, as well as New Development Areas (NDAs) in Kwu Tung North/Fanling North and Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen in recent years. Though such planning developments have yielded significant achievements, there are also inadequacies in attaining “home-job balance” and self-sufficiency for instance. Furthermore, the excessive politicisation in the councils and the deliberate opposition and resistance orchestrated by “anti-government” radicals in recent years made it extremely difficult for us to make any move for our town planning work, leading to serious impediments on social and economic development and causing acute problems in people’s livelihood. With the implementation of the National Security Law and improvement to our electoral system, chaos has ended and social order has been restored. We are now embracing a new era where we can focus on economic development. The HKSAR Government should be visionary and resolute in mapping out the future of Hong Kong in a proactive manner.
Planning for the Future
20. To this end, I propose to develop the northern part of Hong Kong into a metropolitan area ideal for people to live, work and travel, and we should create more land resources for residential use and the development of industries. With an area of 300 square kilometres, the proposed metropolis covers from the west to the east the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Boundary Control Points Economic Belt, as well as the deeper hinterlands. It is well-positioned to share the fruits of not only complementarity between the respective strengths of Hong Kong and Shenzhen but also their integrated development, and will in turn facilitate Hong Kong to better integrate into the overall development of our country. This Northern Metropolis will be developed as an international I&T hub with unique metropolitan landscape marked with “Urban-Rural Integration and Co-existence of Development and Conservation”, while the Harbour Metropolis supporting Hong Kong’s status as an international financial centre will be expanded to include the reclaimed land of the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands under the Lantau Tomorrow Vision. The two metropolises located in the north and south of Hong Kong will provide massive land and enhance the spatial layout of Hong Kong. These two metropolises, spearheading their respective economic engines and complementing each other, will drive the future development of Hong Kong.
