Jake's View | The tale of murkiness that is the Lok Ma Chau Loop
The Hong Kong budget earmarked HK$20 billion for the Hong Kong Shenzhen Innovation and Technology park. And that’s just for starters. But this poses the question of why Hong Kong should pay for it when Shenzhen will be the principal beneficiary
Of the HK$50 billion budgeted [for innovation], HK$20 billion will be earmarked for the first phase of the Hong Kong Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop, for infrastructure and initial operation and start-up costs.
SCMP, March 1
Let’s put some things in perspective here. That HK$50 billion that our financial secretary so casually tossed out for innovation is the equivalent of HK$20,000 for each and every household in Hong Kong and the HK$20 billion for the Lok Ma Chau Loop comes in at HK$7,800 per household.
If you held that HK$20,000 in your own hands right now would you willingly give it away to him for hi-tech pie in the sky or might you have some better uses for the money? Yes, I thought so, an answer as unanimous as is routinely given by the geriatric chorus of the National People’s Congress.
And let’s also think a little more about what is happening at the Lok Ma Chau Loop, an 87-hectare piece of land that used to be part of Shenzhen but was put under Hong Kong jurisdiction in 1997 when the Shenzhen River was straightened. The plans call for a development of 1.2 million square metres of floor area at this innovation “hub”. This makes it four times the size of the Science Park. Our government has established a new paradigm for throwing good money after bad. Don’t just pour in as much as you have already lost. Quadruple it.
You might also have thought that they would first try to fill up Cyberport with more than sales agencies masquerading as tech studios. It’s still Cyberia, the place is so empty.
Note that the HK$20 billion for the Lok Ma Chau Loop is just for starters. There are reasons for this.
