A 37-hectare nature park in Sheung Shui that has been several years in the making could open to the public in the second half of 2024, officials said on Thursday.

The Long Valley Nature Park will be split into three parts, with a biodiversity zone, an agriculture zone for farmers to adopt eco-friendly practices and a visitor zone to help the public appreciate the wetland ecology and to promote awareness of conservation.

Work began on the park in 2019.

Green groups recently warned that hundreds of hectares of wetland are at risk under the government's plan to transform part of the New Territories under its Northern Metropolis blueprint – on top of around 78 hectares that were destroyed over the past couple of years.

The government has also cut the planned size of a wetland conservation park in Sam Po Shue, from 520 hectares to 338 hectares.

The wetland park is near San Tin Technopole.

But at a press conference, Tony Cheng, a project manager with the Civil Engineering and Development Department, rejected the idea that the authorities are prioritising development over preserving nature.

He said the smaller wetland park at Sam Po Shue won't reduce the effectiveness of the conservation work there.

“I think our focus should be on the ecological functions, whether the ecological functions can be maintained to keep the wildlife, so to meet their needs, to provide food for them,” he said.