Hong Kong to look into completing rail link in Northern Metropolis earlier after lawmakers voice concerns over potential jobs, housing mismatch
- Development chief tells lawmakers enterprises could move into Northern Metropolis by 2030, followed by residents, triggering questions on plan’s feasibility
- Lawmakers ask whether jobs will be available for residents as the Northern Link may not open until 2034
Located in the northern part of Hong Kong, bordering the mainland, the area is said to be capable of housing a population of 2.5 million and create 650,000 job opportunities when fully developed.
They questioned whether jobs would be available for residents when the Northern Link, a major rail line serving the northern part of the New Territories, might not open until 2034, with lawmaker Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung criticising the government’s planning, saying it was “not comprehensive enough”.
Linn said: “We will work with the Transport and Logistics Bureau to see if the Northern Link can be opened any earlier.”
Road map for Hong Kong’s Northern Metropolis could be ready within this year
The bureau would provide more concrete details of ancillary transport services during the interim period to ease public concerns, she added.
Lawmakers Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, Michael Luk Chung-hung and Edward Lau Kwok-fan also questioned the potential mismatch between housing and jobs in the Northern Metropolis.
Luk said the project lacked a concrete timeline on when and what kinds of job opportunities would be created.
Ip said employment in the mega project would account for 20 per cent of more than 3 million jobs in Hong Kong, so consideration should be given to daily commutes to work when planning infrastructure such as roads and railways.
Lau pointed to Yuen Long as an example, saying the area had a serious mismatch of 120,000 jobs and 960,000 residents. He hoped the same would not happen in the Northern Metropolis.
In response, Linn said the planned figures of 2.5 million residents and the creation of 650,000 job opportunities came from the previous government when the policy was announced and based on different assumptions.
She added that while studies were under way and should be available by the end of this year or early 2024, there was flexibility in changing the figures when more data was available on different land uses.
Hong Kong aims to earmark 300 hectares of land for I&T purposes near border
Linn also said it is impossible to guarantee residents could find jobs in the same area, but the government would do its best to match where homes and work opportunities were.
Vic Yau Cheuk-hang, director of the Northern Metropolis Coordination Office, added that the planning of road networks in newly developed areas would take into account when residents and enterprises would move in.
