Financial Secretary Paul Chan on Sunday said the Northern Metropolis would help improve the living space of Hong Kong residents.

Writing in his weekly blog, Chan said the size of public housing units in the Northern Metropolis would be enhanced, along with an improvement in size requirement for private residential flats too.

He also said the standard for public open space in the Northern Metropolis would reach 3.5 square metres per person – up 30 percent compared with the current city-wide standard.

With four development areas under construction, Chan said the mega project would offer more than 70,000 housing units and one million square metres of economic floor space in the next five years, while figures would surge to 240,000 units and 10 million square metres, respectively, in 10 years.

“The communities in the Northern Metropolis are planned according to a ‘15-minute living circle’ with reasonable allocation of facilities, so that residents can meet most of their daily needs within a 15-minute walk or bike ride,” he said.

He added that the Northern Metropolis would drive innovation and technology development, and generate some 500,000 new job opportunities.

The FS also said it would create favourable conditions for the renewal of old districts.

Chan pointed out that at a recent consultation session for Hong Kong’s first five-year plan and the upcoming Policy Address, there was widespread anticipation for the Northern Metropolis development, and the participants believed it could become a new engine for the city's future economic development.


Edited by Edmond Fong