Chief Executive John Lee said the government will soon offer land for private development in Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park, now that the first three buildings in zone's Hong Kong Park have been completed.

Lee's remarks came as he attended the topping-out ceremony for the No 8 and 9 laboratory buildings in the zone in Lok Ma Chau Loop, which also saw the successful completion of the No 11 talent accommodation building.

He said the completion of the buildings marks a milestone for technological collaboration between the Hong Kong and Shenzhen governments and paves the way for the zone to become a world-class cluster.

He called for more private firms to participate in jointly developing the high-tech area.

"We will soon select suitable sites this year and seek private development plans to make use of the market forces to accelerate the development of the park, and we will complete the detailed planning of the second phase of the park within this year," Lee said.

"With the gradual completion of the park, it will provide more room for the development of more innovation and technology enterprises and talents, and I call on all sectors from society as well as market forces to actively participate [in the park's development]," he added.

Separately, Lee, who chairs the park's steering committee, said a second edition of the committee's meeting was held yesterday to speed up planning and usage of the three buildings, and authorities are now going all out with development plans for five more planned buildings.

The first batch of tenants, including companies specialising in bio-health technology and data science, is expected to be move in and start operating during the second half of the year.

Earlier, the government also said it is earmarking HK$3.7 billion to assist the park's construction.

Lee, meanwhile, noted that the SAR government will continue to explore the possibility of eliciting policy support from the mainland to enhance the free flow of personnel, resources, capital and data to assist with cross-border collaboration.