Speech by FS at Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors Annual Conference (English only)
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KK (President of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, Mr Chiu Kam-kuen), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning. It's a pleasure to take part in the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors Annual Conference through this video message.
The vast promise of the Northern Metropolis is this year's theme, and it sports an equally engaging tagline: "A New Era of Hong Kong towards Sustainability, Resilience and Growth."
The Government is determined to develop the Northern Metropolis into a highly liveable and vibrant world-class metropolitan area, and a growth engine built on innovation and technology. Covering an area of some 300 square kilometres, the Northern Metropolis is at the heart of accelerating I&T (innovation and technology) co-operation between Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, particularly with the neighbouring Shenzhen.
The San Tin Technopole will rise from there, forming an I&T cluster of about 240 hectares in San Tin and Lok Ma Chau. Together with a corresponding 300-hectare I&T zone on the Shenzhen side, the resulting "One Zone, Two Parks" development will provide land for R&D (research and development), advanced manufacturing, etc.
The Northern Metropolis also promises other high-end economic opportunities, such as transforming Hung Shui Kiu into a modern services centre catering, in particular, for logistics and technology services.
In fact, the Metropolis will feature altogether some 650,000 career opportunities, including 150,000 I&T jobs.
It will also be home to some 2.5 million people with 926,000 residential units. The Northern Metropolis is destined to emerge as a major source of housing supply in the medium to long term. In the building of this urban-rural community for many of our residents, it is important that we give due regard to the ecological treasures in the region, embracing both development and conservation to achieve sustainable growth.
In our pursuit of sustainability, resilience and growth for the Northern Metropolis, vast and unique opportunities will arise for realising visionary ideas and concepts of planning and development. For instance, how could we better drive, and maximise the benefits of, the "infrastructure led", "capacity-creating" approach of development? I look forward to the wise counsel of the many speakers and participants in this Annual Conference, and trust you will all have a rewarding day.
Taking the opportunity, may I wish you the best of health and business in the coming year. Thank you.
Ends/Saturday, September 17, 2022
Issued at HKT 9:45
Issued at HKT 9:45
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