(Policy Address 2021) New MTR station to be built at Science Park

A new Science Park/Pak Shek Kok Station will be added to the East Rail Line, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor proposed.

The station will be located at the current Hong Kong Education University Sports Centre at Pak Shek Kok.

She said it is needed to improve the public transport service connection between Pak Shek Kok and the Science Park, as there will be an additional 88 hectares of new land that will mainly be used for innovation and technology development.

The new land will come from the Ma Liu Shui reclamation project, and the land will also be vacated by the relocation of the Sha Tin Sewage Treatment Works into caverns.

Lam also suggested constructing the San Tin Technopole by consolidating the 87-hectare Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop with areas around Lok Ma Chau/San Tin.

It is estimated that the San Tin Technopole can provide about 240 hectares of land for innovation and technology-related uses, including advanced manufacturing industries.

“This, together with the Shenzhen I&T zone, will form the Shenzhen-Hong Kong I&T Co-operation Zone of approximately 540 hectares,” Lam said, adding that it could become an essential propeller for the development of an international IT hub in the Greater Bay Area.

The InnoLife Healthtech Hub is also proposed to be established in the technology park in the Lok Ma Chau Loop, which echoes this year's 14th Five-Year Plan that emphasized aspects such as life and health disciplines.

The proposed healthcare hub will include the 16 life and health-related laboratories in the InnoHK research clusters, as well as the eight State Key Laboratories in life and health disciplines.

Noting that Cyberport is currently one of Hong Kong’s landmark IT hubs, Lam proposed to include Lau Fau Shan into the Hung Shui Kiu/Ha Tsuen plan -- an area that has been upgraded to become the New Territories North Modern Services Center under the Northern Metropolis Development Strategy -- in order to build another landmark IT facility comparable to Cyberport.