Strong safeguards needed for public-private partners to bloom

Public-private partnerships could be a wise way to build a city by blending public goals with private sector skills and money.

A good example is the Nam Sang Wai project proposed by Henderson Land and the Fu family. The project covers a total of 177.3 hectares, including 154.4 hectares of wetlands that would be saved and managed and 11.6 hectares for 2,521 residential units for 6,500 people.

Last month, authorities launched the public consultation in the environmental impact, under which developers promised to protect nature first before building. If given the green light, home building is expected to commence in 2028.

Developers recently also offered to give the government a lump-sum fund, that would be one-off, to manage the wetlands long-term.

Although the amount is under negotiation, this matters because Deep Bay's migratory birds have been dropping in number from about 90,000 in 2008 to about 50,000 at the moment. The ecology of Nam Sang Wai has been even worse.

It is plausible that PPPs like this could mix the public goals with private actions, helping save nature while building new homes.

Another probable example is the planned Northern Metropolis bordering Shenzhen. The Northern Metropolis is an ambitious plan to transform a large rural region into a hub for industry, innovation and housing accommodating an estimated population of 2.5 million people.

The Northern Metropolis concept involves the government setting the stage and the private sector undertaking the building.

A commitment to maintaining a high level of transparency is essential for mega projects like this to dispel complaints of "collusion" that critics had historically alluded to favoritism or opaque dealings between officials and developers.

Tech can be another area for PPPs. In the mainland, government authorities could not be expected to build something like DeepSeek, an AI startup shaking the world with a low-cost model.

In Hong Kong, the Sino Group is actively branching out into the tech sector with the Sino Inno Lab, a sandbox and an exchange platform for startups. According to the company's website, the lab supports innovation in areas like PropTech, covering projects including smart batteries for construction and air disinfection systems for hospitals, among others.

Nevertheless, PPPs are not perfect. The Nam Sang Wai project just shows how long it can take to agree on the details.

In Beijing, the central government controls tech tightly although it encourages tech research and development.

Good rules will be needed more than ever to keep things fair in light of the broad and deep potential for PPPs. Thus, Hong Kong builders should stand a fair chance of winning contracts when competing with state construction firms from the mainland.

Looking ahead, PPPs may offer solution to some problems. Expand on the Nam Sang Wai approach that pays for conservation while keeping local development on track and the Northern Metropolis model that mixes tech and innovation ambition with housing supply.

PPPs is never foolproof. It can be the way forward but plans must be done right with strong safeguards against corruption.