This file photo dated June 23, 2022 shows an aerial view of residential buildings in the Tin Shui Wai district in the New Territories. (PHOTO / AFP)

HONG KONG – The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government announced on Sunday the establishment of the Northern Metropolis Coordination Office to champion and drive the development of the Northern Metropolis.

In the 2022 Policy Address, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu stated that the current-term government would take forward the development of the Northern Metropolis in full steam and set up a department dedicated to its development in 2023.

A spokesman for the Development Bureau said in a statement that the Northern Metropolis project was a mammoth undertaking involving a number of government bureaux and departments, as it covers aspects such as land development, housing supply, transport infrastructure, ecological conservation, development of industries, and government and community facilities.

The major daily duties of the Northern Metropolis Coordination Office include assuming an overall championing and coordinating role in taking forward the Northern Metropolis initiative, while formulating innovative planning and lands policies as well as implementation arrangements to drive and support new industrial strategies

“The Northern Metropolis integrates quality living, industries, and culture and leisure, with the theme of ‘International Innovation and Technology New City’,” the spokesman said.

The Northern Metropolis was a new engine for Hong Kong to scale new heights, and an important platform to promote high-quality economic co-operation with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and for the city to integrate into the overall national development, the spokesman added.

“The office will assume the overall coordination role in taking forward the initiative”, the spokesman said.

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Vic Yau Cheuk-hang, who joined the Administrative Service in July 1997 and rose to the rank of Administrative Officer Staff Grade B1 in April 2022, was apppointed on Sunday as the director of the Northern Metropolis Coordination Office. 

Yau had served in various bureaux and departments. He was deputy secretary for security from March 2016 to December 2018, deputy secretary for development (planning and lands) from December 2018 to February 2023 and the director of the Preparatory Office for Northern Metropolis since February 2023.

"Yau is a seasoned Administrative Officer with proven leadership and management skills. I have every confidence that he will continue to serve the community with professionalism in his new capacity," said Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan in a separate statement.

This undated file photo shows Vic Yau Cheuk-hang, the director of the Northern Metropolis Coordination Office. (PHOTO / HKSAR GOVERNMENT)

The office will formulate and promulgate an action agenda and an implementation plan for the Northern Metropolis within this year.

Vic Yau Cheuk-hang, who joined the Administrative Service in July 1997 and rose to the rank of Administrative Officer Staff Grade B1 in April 2022, was apppointed on Sunday as the director of the Northern Metropolis Coordination Office

The major daily duties of the office include assuming an overall championing and coordinating role in taking forward the Northern Metropolis initiative, while formulating innovative planning and lands policies as well as implementation arrangements to drive and support new industrial strategies.

The office will also strengthen the coordination of the relevant bureaux and departments for timely implementation of provision of housing, transport and other infrastructure, ecological conservation, development of industries in different sectors, and provision of government and public facilities, etc. for a comprehensive and coherent development.

In addition, it will provide strategic advice to senior echelons on development strategies and priorities for the Northern Metropolis, as well as providing secretariat support to the Steering Committee on the Northern Metropolis chaired by the chief executive and the Advisory Committee on the Northern Metropolis chaired by the financial secretary.

The office will establish close and regular contact and strengthening collaboration with the Chinese mainland authorities to make full use of the synergy between the Northern Metropolis and the GBA as well as the opportunities arising therefrom, and for better integration into the overall national development.

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It is also the office’s duty to promote public engagement and strengthen communication with stakeholders on the development of the Northern Metropolis.