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Written by: Shi Zhongjian
2021-01-26 18:15
Last update date: 2021-01-26 18:15
The New Territories North is located on the strategic border, and it is possible to create a new economic model for Hong Kong, based on high-end innovative technology, mainland professionals and funds, and education technology to provide citizens with a space for self-practice.
If the government provides incentives to successfully recover the land in this area, it will be more helpful to solve the housing problem in Hong Kong.
In 2015, the government launched a study on "Hong Kong 2030+: Planning Vision and Strategies Transcending 2030" (hereinafter referred to as "Hong Kong 2030+"), proposing that Ta Kwu Ling, Heung Yuen Wai, Queensland, San Tin/Lok Ma Chau and Man Kam To , Develop into a new urban space with "city, countryside and nature in harmony".
The report also pointed out that the developable area is about 720 hectares, which can provide living or working places for 250,000 to 350,000 people and create about 215,000 jobs.
At the same time, the Hong Kong government is also intending to turn the northern region into the intersection of the eastern knowledge and technology belt and the northern economic belt, so as to provide an alternative economic core for the Hong Kong working population and reduce the pressure on urban housing and employment.
However, you must know that employment, housing, education, technological development-these big issues and macro goals require non-fragmented business practices.
Public opinion in the public believes that if the government has new land, it must be used to build buildings, or to maintain the existing economic operation mode, to "move out" the economic core of the urban area, and to reproduce it in the new towns.
The core business districts of East Kowloon (such as Kwun Tong, Kai Tak, and Kowloon Bay) are trying to "copy" the core economic regions of Central and Admiralty. As a result, traffic congestion in the East Kowloon area has caused serious traffic congestion. The district failed to develop further and was plagued by problems such as population expansion and aging supporting facilities.
Taking a step back, the northeast and even the northern region is still a piece of white paper to be expanded.
As stated in the "Hong Kong 2030+ Preliminary Concept" plan, New Territories North is "located at a strategic border location", carrying an increasing number of cross-border traffic and "strengthening Hong Kong's ties with Shenzhen East and other parts of Guangdong East" .
If the government can properly grasp the geographical location of New Territories North, the existing logistics network, and the human capital for cross-border work, it is believed that New Territories North will certainly be able to create a new economic model for Hong Kong, with high-end innovative technology, mainland professionals and funds, and We will provide the citizens with a space for self-practice based on the educational technology mentioned below.
Extension Education High-end Technology City
Hong Kong’s economy is now over-reliant on the financial and real estate industry, and these industries have failed to bring benefits to Hong Kong residents as a whole, especially to provide genuine upper-class opportunities for the young and the grassroots.
On the contrary, the government relied on auctioning land as the main source of income (land price income accounted for 25% of the Hong Kong government's income source for 2019-20), which indirectly led real estate developers to build expensive private buildings.
At the same time, in order to maintain Hong Kong’s declining international competitiveness, the Hong Kong Government has resisted radical changes to the tax base.
Under these two major premises, Hong Kong's economic outlook is dire.
The development of New Territories North has the key significance of promoting Hong Kong's economic transformation.
To promote economic reform, what is needed is a model that can maintain the attraction of international funds and talents while maintaining a stable source of income for the Hong Kong government.
Here, we believe that the New Territories North New Town should develop into a "high-end city" dominated by education, high-end technology as the core driving force, and talent training as the focus.
In terms of education, the government should introduce domestic and overseas higher education institutions as soon as possible (including the mainland, but should not abandon first-tier international universities due to external or political factors), and invite them to establish a Hong Kong branch in the North of the New Territories. Business school built).
The government can levy taxes on these universities to lay an alternative financial foundation and at the same time reduce the overall economic burden through a private (rather than subsidized) model.
Hong Kong's unique judicial system, financial system, and being one of the most open cities in China, I believe that it will be attractive to many international first-tier universities that are interested in the Chinese education market.
The construction and operation of these universities can already bring direct employment opportunities to Hong Kong.
But more importantly, the presence of colleges and universities helps ensure that Hong Kong can attract a large number of high-end talents and cultivate scientific and technological talents with heavy money and geographical advantages, so as to occupy a leading position in the overall development of the Greater Bay Area.
Of course, the premise of this initiative is that Hong Kong can still maintain these key institutional advantages, and it must be matched with incentives and external connections for top academic talents in Southeast Asia and even the world.
If the government wants to develop the Northeast, it must obtain the support of different stakeholders.
(Lin Ruoqin)
At the same time, Hong Kong has failed to create a mature economic ecosystem in fields such as biotechnology, financial technology, and mechanical engineering.
There are many top science graduates in Hong Kong. After graduation, they either switch to the legal profession or the business world, or resolutely go northward or leave Hong Kong for development.
Why is it so?
The reason is simple: Whether it is innovation and technology, high-end technology, or even the most "big road" traditional medical technology, Hong Kong is seriously lacking in supporting facilities, funds and a mature promotion ladder to retain key talents.
As the government said, New Territories North is an ideal location for the establishment of a new science park/industrial village, and higher education institutions are able to provide these industrial villages with middle and high-level talents and practical places, and provide the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone proposed in the Policy Address. Human Resources.
From a macro perspective, if Hong Kong wants to develop high-end technology, it must carefully examine the comparative advantages of competitors in the region.
Shenzhen is the "leader" of an innovative technology city and is known as the "Silicon Valley of China". There are technology giants such as Tencent, Huawei, and BGI, while Guangzhou is a key city in medical technology and cultural technology in the Greater Bay Area.
The rising stars of Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, and Zhuhai may not pose a threat to Hong Kong for the time being, but the competition is fierce. If Hong Kong wants to maintain its leading position and maintain its international status, it must be in modern logistics, legal technology, biotechnology, and even political and political affairs. Seek innovation space at the level of media technology.
As the North District of the New Territories adjacent to Shenzhen, it should make full use of its geographical advantages and integrate with Hong Kong's unique political culture to become Hong Kong's true high-end technological core.
As the North District of the New Territories adjacent to Shenzhen, it should make full use of its geographical advantages and integrate with Hong Kong's unique political culture to become Hong Kong's true high-end technological core.
(Visual China)
Build a cross-border retail residential city
The paradoxical "separation of jobs" in Hong Kong has caused the following embarrassing situation: Many residents living in the New Territories have to travel long distances every day to take MTR or other transportation to work in the core business districts of East Kowloon and the Victoria Harbour.
On the contrary, there are also many residents living in urban areas who have to travel northward and work across the border every day.
This abnormal situation not only reduces economic efficiency, but also involves the transportation link between the New Territories and the urban area, and even causes the loss of talents in Hong Kong to the north in the long run.
Furthermore, under the trend of economic stagnation and deteriorating global trade environment, Hong Kong must reflect on how to develop a long-term and stable retail industry to ensure that even if there is a "sudden situation" like the new crown epidemic (isolating our city from the outside world), It can still maintain a certain degree of cross-border economic activities, leaving room and coping space for the retail industry.
Under these two considerations, the government should develop the area around Xintian and Lok Ma Chau, as well as other parts of the frontier closed area, into a retail residential city that can serve both the population of Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
For the detailed vision of the Shenzhen-Hong Kong retail residential city, please read the full text of the "Hong Kong 01" weekly electronic journal.
The above excerpt was recorded in the 250th issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly (January 25, 2021) "Opening the door to reform and developing the north of the New Territories, so that Hong Kong will regain the dawn" If you want to read the full text, please
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Highlights of the 250 issue of "Hong Kong 01" Weekly News:
[Cover Report] Saying goodbye to Trump Biden's new deal to fight the epidemic and seek unity, not to forget political reform
Sino-U.S. relations have entered a new pattern, "international line" fantasy should wake up
Distributing money can’t solve the fundamental problem. Economic governance needs a good government.
Workers actually "post money to scramble themselves" and cancel the MPF hedging
The key to the BNO dispute from changing naturalization conditions from travel documents
Is the theme park becoming a recreational area? Is the ocean park facing a dead end or a way out?
This is how the "epidemic area" must be sealed
Half a century, the relationship between China and Australia has fallen to a freezing point.
The tragic conclusion of the Irish Mother and Child Home sets the final chapter in the decadent Catholic history?
[Hong Kong Re-Planning] When will the "New Territories Bull" push?
Look at Hung Shui Bridge
New Territories Northeast Development Greater Bay Area Innovation and Technology 01 Weekly