Individual Hong Kong investors may be allowed to take financial stake in Northern Metropolis development, finance chief says

Paul Chan says financing arrangements for transforming city’s border area with mainland China should be creative, tailor-made for each stage of development

Activities involving public-private partnership could include retail investors so Hongkongers can ‘own this particular vision and benefit from it’

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The Northern Metropolis is intended to serve as a strategic growth engine for Hong Kong’s border area with mainland China. Photo: Martin Chan

Published: 11:00pm, 13 Oct 2021Updated: 1:29am, 20 Oct 2021

Individual Hong Kong investors may be allowed to take a financial stake in the city’s ambitious new plan to transform its sleepy border area with mainland China into a Silicon Valley-style tech hub, the financial secretary has said.

Paul Chan Mo-po unveiled elements of the Northern Metropolis development’s financing model – along with his assessment of Hong Kong’s future amid ongoing US-China tensions – during an interview for the October 13-14 China Institute Executive Summit 2021.

First proposed by Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor in her yearly policy address last week, the Northern Metropolis is intended to serve as a strategic growth engine, ease housing shortages and integrate the city into the Greater Bay Area, Beijing’s scheme to turn Hong Kong, Macau and nine Guangdong cities into an economic powerhouse.

“We need to do it by phases and have to be creative in terms of coming up with a package of financing arrangements,” Chan told the Post, a strategic partner in the event, this year dubbed “The View From China”.

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Hong Kong finance chief says Hongkongers can take part in financing of Northern Metropolis

“For certain activities that could involve public-private partnership, whether we should issue green bonds … apart from institutions, perhaps we may involve retail investors so Hong Kong people can own this particular vision and benefit from it.”

Chan predicted that financing packages would be tailor-made for each stage of the project’s development.