Vision

• As a new engine for the future development of Hong Kong, the Northern Metropolis will inject new economic impetus into Hong Kong. In particular, by providing new land for development of innovation and technology (I&T) industry, the Northern Metropolis can support Hong Kong to become an international I&T centre under the new industrial pattern of “South-North dual engine (finance-I&T)”.
• The Northern Metropolis is one of the main sources of future housing land supply, integrating quality life, industry development, culture and leisure, and promoting a better home-job balance and green living.
• The Northern Metropolis is close to Shenzhen's metropolitan core and the base of I&T industry with the greatest development momentum, and having seven land-based boundary control points, forging an essential platform for our cooperation with other Greater Bay Area cities.
• The entire Northern Metropolis will eventually develop as a metropolitan with a residential population of about 2.5 million and providing about 650 000 jobs.

Basic Information

• The Northern Metropolis covers the Yuen Long District and North District, including new towns in Tin Shui Wai, Yuen Long and Fanling/Sheung Shui, various New Development Areas in different planning and development stages and their neighboring areas, with a total area of 30 000 hectares (about one third of the total area of Hong Kong).
• The existing population and jobs in Yuen Long District and North District are about 980 000 and 134 000 respectively.
• The Government is actively taking forward the development of the Northern Metropolis. Large New Development Areas such as Kwu Tung North/Fanling North, Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen, Yuen Long South and San Tin Technopole (including the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Loop) are under construction. Also, relevant planning studies for new land development projects, including New Territories North New Town, Ngau Tam Mei, Lau Fau Shan and Ma Tso Lung area, are in progress.

Transport Infrastructure

• The Transport and Logistic Bureau promulgated the "Hong Kong Major Transport Infrastructure Development Blueprint" in December 2023, which formulates a planning framework for the city's future transport infrastructure development, and outlines the strategic railway and major road networks which can meet the transport and logistics demand up to 2046 and beyond.
• It includes a series of local and cross-boundary transport infrastructure projects to support the development of the Northern Metropolis, including the Northern Link, the Northern Link Spur Line, the Northern Link Eastern Extension, the Northeast New Territories Line, the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Rail Link (Hung Shui Kiu – Qianhai), Hung Shui Kiu Station of Tuen Ma Line, the Central Rail Link, the Northern Metropolis Highway, Route 11 (section between Yuen Long and North Lantau), the Tsing Yi–Lantau Link, the Widening of Yuen Long Highway (section between Lam Tei and Tong Yan San Tsuen), the Tuen Mun Bypass and the Shatin Bypass, etc.
• Upon the progressive commissioning of the major transport infrastructure projects, the major transport infrastructure network will extend to various New Development Areas (NDAs) in the area, enhancing the connectivity between these areas with the Mainland, as well as other parts of Hong Kong, improving the overall traffic conditions in the Northern Metropolis. It will enable the public to easily access various land-based boundary control points (BCPs) via major roads and railways, boosting the connectivity and synergy effect among these BCPs as well as the benefits of the cross-boundary infrastructure.
• Meanwhile, the improved major transport infrastructure network will also enhance the connection between the Northern Metropolis and the Harbour Metropolis, forming new transport corridors between the two metropolises in the east, central and west of Hong Kong and creating sufficient capacity to meet the north-south transport and logistics demand arising from developments.

Nature Conservation and Sustainability

• While developing housing and economic land to create development capacity, we will also enhance the environmental capacity in the Northern Metropolis.
• The Northern Metropolis has diverse habitats, such as large areas of wetlands, fish ponds, marshes, reedbeds and mangroves in its west. The area covering mangroves, wetlands and fish ponds in Mai Po and Inner Deep Bay, in particular, are listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, and is a priority ecological environment for conservation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and even in Southern China. Through proactive conservation and restoration, the ecological values and biodiversity of wetlands in the Northern Metropolis could be enhanced, making it a unique metropolis featuring “Co-existence of Development and Conservation”.
• The Government will establish the Sam Po Shue Wetland Conservation Park to enhance the ecological quality and biodiversity of the Northern Metropolis, provide the public with high-quality outdoor eco-education and eco-recreation facilities, as well as to introduce modernised and sustainable aquaculture into the Park. For details of development of the Wetland Conservation Parks System, please refer to the relevant webpage (click here).
• To achieve the goal of sustainable communities and carbon neutrality in the long run, smart, green, and resilient strategies will be adopted for the Northern Metropolis, formulating measures in three aspects, namely planning and urban design, infrastructure systems, and mobility. For example, formulating appropriate land use planning, building layout and green building design; incorporating the “Blue-Green Infrastructure” function and providing facilities such as district cooling system, common utility enclosure, etc.; and using railways as the backbone of sustainable transport as well as improving pedestrian and cycling networks to encourage the use of green transportation.

Implementation Mode

The land resumption, site formation, and infrastructure for new development areas are generally led by the Government. To expedite development of the Northern Metropolis, the Government also actively leverages market forces and adopts diverse development modes. Besides allowing landowners to develop their land through in-situ land exchanges, we are piloting large-scale land disposal approach, under which sizable land parcels with commercial value and earmarked for provision of public facilities will be selected and granted to successful bidders for collective development. This approach can speed up the development of the land parcels, at the same time reduce the financial outlay of the Government. As for various types of industrial land, they can be introduced to the market in appropriate forms according to relevant industrial policies.

The Chief Executive announced in the 2024 Policy Address to promote island and coastal tourism in Hong Kong, including developing Tsim Bei Tsui and Pak Nai into eco-tourism nodes. This is the first time in recent years that the Government has promoted the eco-tourism industry in the form of "large-scale land disposal" development.

Large-scale land disposal

Tsim Bei Tsui and Pak Nai Eco-tourism projects

Enhanced Conventional New Town Approach