Hong Kong’s development chief has welcomed collaboration between property developers and industry operators in bids for the Northern Metropolis pilot project, saying the consortium reflected diversity and the government’s aim of pairing the two sectors.
Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho made the remarks on Saturday despite the government only receiving two bids for the flagship Hung Shui Kiu project when the tender closed a day earlier.
Henderson Land Development submitted a stand-alone bid, while Sino Land partnered with five companies: China Merchants Land, China Resources Land (Overseas), China Overseas Land & Investment, CTG Investment and Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com.
Linn said that, unlike previous stand-alone residential or commercial land tenders, the new Northern Metropolis model had achieved the government’s goal of pairing traditional developers with industrial operators.
The Hung Shui Kiu plot is the first large-scale land sale in the Northern Metropolis under a model designed to combine property development with the creation of an innovation and technology hub.
Linn said she was particularly pleased that the bids differed from past tenders for residential or commercial sites, which often attracted “homogeneous” bidders.
