Are special laws a quick fix for speeding up Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis?
Syncing megaproject with key infrastructure and turning it into a ‘living laboratory’ are equally important to its success, tech experts say
Travelling from Hong Kong’s commercial heart to the site of the San Tin Technopole, a planned innovation hub under the Northern Metropolis megaproject, is an exercise in endurance.
The roughly two-hour trek from Causeway Bay requires taking trains on two lines, navigating two transit interchanges and catching a ride on a public minibus.
Upon arrival, visitors are not greeted by gleaming skyscrapers or shopping centres, but by a quiet patchwork of fish ponds, villages, scattered squatter homes and brownfield sites where direct access to public transport remains a rarity.
But beneath the rural, underdeveloped soil lies the blueprint for Hong Kong’s future.
It includes an innovation and technology (I&T) zone, a commerce and industry zone, a high-end professional services and logistics hub, and an area featuring recreation and conservation elements.
With the Northern Metropolis becoming a national priority, authorities are now gathering public support for creating a set of designated laws that will speed up development, effectively giving the megaproject special status.