Major development initiatives were unveiled today in Chief Executive John Lee’s Policy Address to expedite the development of the Northern Metropolis (NM).

Noting the development of the NM is well underway, Mr Lee elaborated today that construction works have begun at four new development areas while site formation work for the site in Ngau Tam Mei will start next year. As for the remaining four new development areas, statutory planning and related procedures will begin in the coming year.

The Government will continue to streamline procedures, including using a digital platform to shorten the approval time for works projects by three to six months, reducing the time for the first approval for building plans of new railway projects by half to 30 days, and optimising foundation designs to save about $1.4 billion in the construction costs of NM public housing.

Furthermore, the Government will expand the application scope of the Hong Kong Environmental Database by optimising planning with artificial intelligence to reduce the time needed for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process to about 15 to 24 months from about 36 to 48 months. For NM-related projects, the time needed for the EIA process will be targeted at about 15 to 20 months.

The Government will introduce an amendment bill into the Legislative Council by year-end, providing preferential tax rates of 5%, or half-rate, for selected enterprises operating in key sectors such as finance, advanced manufacturing, innovation and technology (I&T), as well as research and development (R&D), headquarters activities, and logistics and supply chain management.

At the back of the layout, three university towns exceeding 1,000 hectares will be developed in San Tin, Hung Shui Kiu and Ta Kwu Ling under “One Town, Five Elements” framework, covering education, technology, industry, talent, and urban development.

Construction of Building 1 of the Loop Hong Kong Park at San Tin University Town is scheduled for completion by year-end, with applications for Hung Shui Kiu campus construction opening within this year. An upgraded committee led by the Chief Secretary will steer research outcome transformations.

To dovetail with the development of the NM University Towns, the Government will expand the capacity of post-secondary. Measures include increasing UGC-funded research postgraduate places by around 30% to 9,600 by 2030-31 academic year, boosting Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme quotas from 400 to 550 from 2027-28 to 2029-30 academic years, and adding $20 million annually for knowledge transfer starting 2027-28 academic year.

Visit Chapter V of the Chief Executive’s Policy Address for more details.