LegCo passes Northern Metropolis Development Bill to streamline procedures

The Legislative Council passed the Northern Metropolis Development Bill, along with government-proposed amendments, at its third reading on Thursday, aiming to streamline development procedures across six key policy areas.

The legislation empowers the Chief Executive in Council to make subsidiary legislation setting out implementation measures. These include simplifying town-planning procedures, expediting compensation payments for land resumption and streamlining applications for construction noise permits.

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said the government plans to submit the subsidiary legislation to the Legislative Council in January, with a view to bringing the measures into effect in the first quarter of next year.

Linn said the government will introduce new legislation or amend existing ordinances as needed. She stressed that the new ordinance would not need to incorporate every existing law relevant to the Northern Metropolis. Matters including urban governance, transport and labour would continue to be dealt with under the relevant existing ordinances.

Linn said the Town Planning Board would retain its gatekeeping role, and the streamlining measures would not apply to conservation areas in the Northern Metropolis. Noise-control standards would also remain unchanged to ensure residents continued to be protected.

She added that where regulatory relaxation measures should apply across Hong Kong, the government would be better off enacting or amending city-wide legislation. For example, as tax incentives would also benefit businesses outside the Northern Metropolis, the government would implement them by amending the Inland Revenue Ordinance.

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