Technology minister Sun Dong on Sunday said the government would step up communication with companies managing various industrials parks at the Northern Metropolis to avoid any confusion about the scope of their business operations.

Speaking on a Commercial Radio programme, he noted there might be competition among companies in attracting enterprises and investment to parks such as the San Tin Technopole, which focuses on innovation and technology, as well as the Hetao Hong Kong Park which focuses on research and development.

But he added that such competition wouldn't hurt.

“Whether there might be some overlap in business operations, I think there certainly will be, and it is reasonable. A little competition is not a bad thing,” he said.

“Even if there is some overlap, I think some industrial parks might even belong to different bureaus, but our scope of business is clearly defined.”

For instance, if a firm wishes to work on advance construction or transport and logistics at the San Tin Technopole, the government would refer it to other sites instead.

If it insists to set up shop at the site, according to its initial plan, they would have to take operational guidance from respective bureaus, Sun said.

He also said that 80 percent of the floor space at the 10-storey Loop Academic One (Building 1) had been let, and the other four buildings were expected to be operational by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, the minister said that two pilot lines of the Hong Kong Microelectronics Research and Development Institute (MRDI) would start operating at the Microelectronics Centre in Yuen Long by the end of this year.

So far, MRDI has received cooperation agreement orders of worth tens of millions of dollars, Sun said, and he expects the pilot lines could take more than 50 such orders annually.




Edited by Tony Sabine