Land for Hong Kong-Shenzhen tech park to be unlocked by 2021

The IT hub is expected to be around 1.2 million square metres.

The first batch of land parcels for the construction of the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation & Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop is expected to be made available by 2021 or earlier, according to a government statement. 

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The park aims to be an international centre for innovation and technology research and is part of deeper collaboration with Mainland cities to convert the Greater Bay Area into a thriving economic hub that could stand at par with Silicon Valley. 

A meeting attended by Secretary for Innovation & Technology Nicholas Yang and Shenzhen Vice Mayor Ai Xuefeng endorsed the loop's preliminary land disposal arrangements to grant the land to the tech park.

“We are building a Hong Kong-Shenzhen I&T hub with a total GFA (gross floor area) of 1.2 million square metres. So, if my mental calculation still serves me well, that will be 2,400 times the size of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Hong Kong Innovation Node,” CE Lam said in a 2017 speech.  

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The Master Planning Study and Business Model & Business Planning Study for the tech park are expected to be completed by the first half of 2019.

Finance Secretary Paul Chan earlier allotted $20b of the IT sector’s total budget of $50b for the development of the first phase of the tech park in his 2018-19 budget address.

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