Hong Kong’s legislature will retain the power to scrutinise boundary changes for the Northern Metropolis megaproject proposed by the executive branch, the city’s development chief has said, addressing concerns over proposed laws to fast-track the scheme. Under proposed legislation comprising six main subsidiary laws designed to remove bottlenecks in the massive scheme near the border…
Hong Kong authorities have proposed designated laws to streamline procedures for changing land use in the Northern Metropolis megaproject, cutting the process from typically nine months to just two. Unveiled by the Development Bureau on Tuesday, the proposed designated legislation comprises six main subsidiary laws designed to remove bottlenecks in the massive scheme near the…
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po delivered his latest budget on February 25. Over the past decade, under his stewardship, Hong Kong has weathered multiple economic shocks and recently returned to a respectable growth rate of 3.5 per cent. Yet the tasks ahead are formidable: addressing a structural fiscal deficit in the city’s capital account while…
Nine residential sites will be offered to developers in the coming financial year to provide about 6,650 flats under a Hong Kong land sale programme, after authorities highlighted the property market had stabilised in the latest budget. Combined with other land sources, such as urban redevelopment, private development and projects linked to railway properties, the…
Hong Kong authorities are open to supporting universities in issuing bonds to fund the development of the proposed University Town in the Northern Metropolis, with lawmakers calling for a dedicated approval and credit rating mechanism. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po signalled the government’s intention during a meeting of the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee on Thursday,…
The Northern Metropolis is in the news almost every day. The big policy focus for the administration, it is determining a new future for Hong Kong. Part of the New Territories, which were dubbed “a land between” in the 1980s, the area was once little more than a rural leftover between urban Hong Kong and…
Hong Kong’s Hung Shui Kiu industrial park will leverage its location advantage to focus on advanced manufacturing, including proprietary Chinese medicine products, in a bid to differentiate itself from the San Tin Technopole, according to development authorities. While the government has yet to set key performance indicators (KPIs) for the company operating the park, a…
Hong Kong authorities have expedited the Northern Metropolis megaproject by setting up a non-statutory company to run a 23-hectare site in Hung Shui Kiu, while putting up the pilot area for tender. In a statement issued on Monday, the Development Bureau said it planned to name the company the Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park Company….
Cheung Siu-ling struggles to fight back tears whenever she looks at the 600 goats she has kept for years at a farm near Hong Kong’s border. By the end of January next year, the herd will either have to be relocated or put down. The owner, who is in her fifties, has kept goats for…
Hong Kong authorities took market rates into account before setting a two-year annual subsidy of HK$150,000 (US$19,278) for flat owners displaced by the Tai Po fire, the city’s home affairs minister has said, amid calls for the government to monitor whether the new measure will further drive up rents in the area. Under the new…