Patience preached for mega project

The government will be content if the Northern Metropolis project can be completed in 15 years - five years ahead of projections - says Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor.

Lam said the development of Hong Kong is linked with national development so she proposed the Northern Metropolis, which she formulated with former director of planning Ling Kar-kan, and announced in her recent policy address.

"The Northern Metropolis will not be finished after five years - we are talking about 20 years," Lam said. "But if we can do it in 15 years, we will feel very content."

She said people should be patient and support the plan.

"We should not be too ambitious that it can be completed very soon because we have to go through a process," Lam said.

"Haste makes waste."

Ling said people have to view the development of New Territories North from a metropolis perspective, instead of looking at each development project.

With the transport network continuing to develop, he said the area of the metropolis could be extended.

Meanwhile, Secretary for Development Michael Wong Wai-lun told lawmakers yesterday that the government can handle the two massive projects - Northern Metropolis and Lantau Tomorrow Vision - at the same time.

It was in response to New People's Party lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee asking whether the government is capable of doing this.

"If you are going to do both at the same time, please be frank, secretary, do you think you can cope with it? Don't be bureaucratic," she said.

But Wong dismissed Ip's concerns. "We have the financial position and our sector has the capacity. We are able to deal with that amount of work," he said.

Wong also said Hong Kong is capable of funding HK$2 trillion to HK$2.4 trillion in infrastructure in the next two decades.

Lawmaker Ben Chan Han-pan, of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, asked if the government will consider relocating Kwai Chung container terminals to free up the site for other developments.

Wong said the administration has no such plan. The long-term planning, he added, is to reclaim land in Cheung Chau in an attempt to release the Kwai Chung container terminal site.

Another DAB lawmaker, Leung Che-cheung, questioned Wong on whether the reclamation project in Ma Liu Shui will be supported by residents as the Sha Tin Sea, a cove at the mouth of the Shing Mun River, will be narrowed to a river.

Wong said there had been discussions on near-shore reclamation in Ma Liu Shui in 2011. People were mostly concerned about the ratio of public and private housing and traffic congestion.

But the latest government proposal is to use the reclaimed land in Ma Liu Shui for innovation and technology development, which he believes can address people's concerns.