When mass protests broke out in Hong Kong in 2019, the rest of the world largely believed the unrest was fuelled by concern over a controversial extradition bill and shrinking of democratic space. The protests, the largest since Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, also had an economic cause: Inadequate affordable housing.
At the time, rental rates for housing in Hong Kong were higher than those in New York or London... for apartments that were half the size of their western counterparts. The median price of a house was 20 times the annual median income at the time.
On Wednesday, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam stressed on the need for affordable housing in a policy address. A key point of the address was the development of a ‘Northern Metropolis’ on the city's border area with mainland China.
Lam said the Northern Metropolis, spread across 300km, would be home to 2.5 million people in 20 years. Thus, the Northern Metropolis would accommodate about a third of Hong Kong's population. Lam said the Northern Metropolis would be Hong Kong's main economic hub and would boost "development integration with Shenzhen and connection with the Greater Bay Area". The project would primarily be located in Yuen Long and North District.
Not surprisingly, shares of major property developers in Hong Kong zoomed on Thursday.
Global Construction Review noted, "The economic basis of the metropolis will be up to 650,000 jobs, of which as many as 150,000 will be in the IT sector. As the former colony is largely concerned with financial services, these new industries are expected to help it to integrate better with the high-tech hub of Shenzhen."
Once fully developed, the Northern Metropolis could have between 905,000 and 926,000 residential units
The move to boost housing projects come amid continued high costs and waiting periods. "The average waiting time for public housing in Hong Kong has climbed steadily to more than 5.5 years. Compounding the problem, home prices in old rural areas about an hour's commute from the city centre have also surged, buoyed in part by mainland parents eager to educate their children in the city," Reuters reported.
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However, the scope of the project and the enormous funds needed, which has not been revealed, has attracted scepticism.
James Sung, the founding director of the Progress and Perfection Research Institute, told RTHK News "It's too big... One important challenge is: do we get sufficient skilled workers to carry out such a large-scale project? Because in the past two decades, the construction industry has always complained that we cannot get enough skilled workers from within Hong Kong. It would be difficult to get workers from outside, so this is a real challenge."
