​Following is a question by the Hon Erik Yim and a reply by the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, in the Legislative Council today (February 4):
      
Question:
      
     The Development Bureau had planned to build "a gallery to showcase major development projects" in Wan Chai to exhibit and present major projects, including Northern Metropolis (NM), but the Government subsequently decided to set up physical exhibitions in the community liaison centres of various new development areas and establish an online exhibition on a website instead. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
      
(1) given the view that the dispersed provision of exhibitions on the NM causes a waste of resources and fails to achieve an economy-of-scale effect, hence the difficulty in soliciting business and attracting investment for the NM, whether the Government will consider concentrating the gallery sites in the NM region; if not, of the reasons for that;
      
(2) whether it will consider appropriately expanding the scale of Innohub and designating a dedicated zone to display the development blueprint of the NM, so as to reduce duplication of resources allocation and attract public attention in a more focused manner; and
      
(3) whether it will draw on the Mainland's successful experiences in gallery planning (such as those of Pudong in Shanghai, Nansha in Guangzhou, and Qianhai in Shenzhen) to display the development outcomes of major projects visually and dynamically by integrating non-costly technologies such as AI-driven virtual reality, holographic projection, 3D multimedia, and interactive sand table to create panoramic immersive experiences, thereby enhancing the effectiveness in soliciting business and attracting investment?
      
Reply:

President,
           
     The Northern Metropolis (NM) is a key engine for Hong Kong's future economic development. With the fundamental planning now in place and land supply progressively being made available, the development of the NM has entered a new stage. One of the major tasks is to facilitate enterprises to participate in construction and to promote industry anchoring. At the same time, it is essential to foster social consensus to drive the development of the NM.
      
     My reply to various parts of the question raised by the Hon Erik Yim is as follows:
      
(1) and (2) The establishment of exhibition galleries relating to the NM would help achieve two major objectives. First, it aims to facilitate community understanding and support for the NM as Hong Kong's strategic growth area. Second, it seeks to attract enterprises and investment by showcasing the potential of the NM, thereby encouraging enterprises to participate in construction, attracting enterprises to establish footholds and fostering industry clustering.
      
     Following an earlier preliminary exploration, we had once proposed the construction of an exhibition gallery on a site at the Wan Chai North harbourfront to showcase major infrastructure projects, including the NM. Having listened to views from the community and the Legislative Council and taking into account the priorities of work and resource allocation, we consider that this is not the appropriate time to pursue the project. In fact, the implementation of such a project would require a relatively long lead time, which cannot meet the pressing need to attract enterprises and investment to the NM.
      
     If the purpose is to only introduce the NM to the general public, the Government has in recent years set up a dedicated NM exhibition zone at the City Gallery in Central. For the objective of attracting enterprises and investment, our experience shows that enterprises interested in exploring participation in the development of the NM often wish to gain close-up understanding of its latest progress and conduct on-site visits. At present, the Government has established Community Liaison Centres (CLCs) in several new development areas (NDAs) in the NM, including Kwu Tung North, Fanling North, Hung Shui Kiu and the Loop. The CLCs for Fanling North and the Loop, commissioned in 2023 and 2024 respectively, have incorporated exhibition facilities showcasing the planning and works of the relevant NDAs and have become the first two "district exhibition centres" of the NM. The exhibition content of the Fanling North CLC even covers the overall planning and development of the NM. Following this direction, the Hung Shui Kiu CLC, which is scheduled to have completed relocation and expansion around the first quarter of this year, will also include exhibition facilities introducing the Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen NDA as well as the overall planning and development of the NM. Experience shows that these "district exhibition centres" can more effectively complement the on-site visits, showcasing the concrete development achievements of the respective areas to visitors, thereby better focusing on the current work of attracting enterprises and investment.
      
     Looking ahead, we will consider expanding the exhibition content of the Innohub at the Loop to cover the development of the adjacent San Tin Technopole, Ma Tso Lung and even the entire NM. In addition, we plan to establish a larger and multi-purpose core exhibition gallery for the NM in the Kwu Tung North NDA, with the first phase targeted for commissioning in 2027. This will replace the existing CLC in Kwu Tung North, which is of a smaller scale. The new NM core exhibition gallery will be located in Kwu Tung North  given its proximity to the East Rail Line Kwu Tung Station scheduled to commission in 2027, offering convenient transport access. The site is also close to the museum to showcase national development and achievements, which has already been designated by the Government to be located in Kwu Tung North, allowing for the future development of an exhibition cluster. Moreover, the Long Valley Nature Park is nearby, enabling visitors to the exhibition gallery to also tour the park and appreciate the NM's vision and achievements of "co-existence of development and conservation".
      
     In addition to the abovementioned physical exhibition galleries, we will also establish an online exhibition platform on the dedicated NM website, making use of multimedia to introduce the NM to viewers within and outside Hong Kong.
      
(3) We agree that in order to attract visitors and enhance the effectiveness of attracting enterprises and investment, it is not only important to provide rich exhibition content, but also to place emphasis on curatorial approaches. In this regard, we will continue to draw reference from the exhibition galleries in the Mainland and other places, planning from the perspective of visitors and adopting multimedia and technology-based presentation methods. For example, the Fanling North CLC is equipped with holographic projection and three-dimensional models to present the overall picture of the NDA in a tangible manner. It also offers immersive experiences through image projection to create virtual reality, enabling participants to experience a "flyover" of the Fanling North NDA. In addition, there are simulated driving games, allowing visitors to learn about and experience the development of the relevant NDA and the NM as a whole through diverse formats.
      
     The future core exhibition gallery of the NM in Kwu Tung North under planning will adopt more innovative technologies to create a panoramic interactive platform. Through multimedia presentations and multi-perspective displays, the exhibition gallery will highlight the NM as Hong Kong's new engine of future development, enabling the public to gain a more direct understanding of the planning blueprint and allowing investors to acquire a more concrete appreciation of the NM's development potential.

Ends/Wednesday, February 4, 2026
Issued at HKT 18:50

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