Government officials and lawmakers on Wednesday pledged to offer more policy and capital support for the proposed Northern Metropolis — a region expected to house a third of Hong Kong’s population.

The measures include a 5,000-square-meter exhibition hall showcasing the area’s vision and progress; legislation to remove institutional roadblocks that have stymied its development; and policy initiatives optimizing land supply and business invitation.

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said the first phase of the exhibition hall is due to open next year.

Linn outlined the plan in response to legislators’ questions regarding the possibility of a more robust platform to engage the community and attract investment for the Northern Metropolis’ construction.

As the city’s most ambitious urban development project in decades, the Northern Metropolis will encompass one-third of the SAR’s land area, adjacent to Shenzhen, Guangdong province.

Linn called the hall a “strategic leap” designed to supersede the scope and promotional impact of the current, limited Northern Metropolis exhibitions on view at community outreach centers and at Central District’s City Gallery.

She said the facility’s location and initial phase will be in sync with Kwu Tung Station, also slated to be launched next year on the East Rail Line — a key element of the planned MTR Corp’s Northern Link project.

The hall will be near a proposed pavilion on national development progress, with the vision of forming an exhibition precinct at the site.

The special administrative region government had halted a plan to build a major exhibition gallery in Wan Chai North, featuring projects like the Northern Metropolis and Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands. Linn said the longer-term idea of creating an “iconic venue” to highlight Hong Kong’s key infrastructure projects remains on the table.

She said the authorities are open to “more creative, fun” methods to raise the project’s profile. This could include novel partnerships with popular local cultural icons — a point raised by lawmaker Lee Chun-keung, who specifically suggested collaborating with intellectual-property assets like the Labubu doll.

The exhibition hall, for example, will feature a panoramic interactive platform capable of dynamically presenting the Northern Metropolis vista to visitors via multimedia displays, Linn added.

Separately, the Legislative Council began consideration of a motion on Wednesday that urges more fast-paced, streamlined construction to transform the Northern Metropolis into its promised role as a regional innovation and technology powerhouse.

The motion, introduced by lawmaker Brave Chan Yung, outlined a four-pronged strategy to catalyze the massive development project. He called for dedicated legislation to “dismantle barriers” for cross-border flows and de-risk corporate innovation in the zone, alongside legal tools to address potential funding challenges.

Additionally, Chan’s proposal positions the Northern Metropolis as the vital pilot-production bridge in a new regional innovation corridor, which connects Hong Kong’s research excellence with the mass manufacturing scale of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

He also suggested building a resilient, integrated energy grid that synergizes electricity, computing power, and low-carbon technology to power the township’s growth.

In response, government officials stressed the Northern Metropolis’s strategic significance to Hong Kong’s bid to become an international information-and-technology hub while framing it as a direct answer to the national call for high-quality development, self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology.

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Undersecretary for Development David Lam Chi-man said the Development Bureau is set to begin consulting on a dedicated Northern Metropolis legislation in the first quarter of this year to speed up the land’s development and draw businesses, with passage by year-end if backed by the legislature.

Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong highlighted that two flagship developments central to the Northern Metropolis project — the Hong Kong Park of the Hetao cooperation zone, and San Tin Technopole — will provide prime land for strategic enterprises in fields like life and health technology, artificial intelligence and data science to establish research and development centers, pilot production bases, and even mass-manufacturing facilities.

Sun said that the government has been keen on promoting a citywide new industrialization drive that assists the local manufacturing sector to upgrade its production line through cutting-edge technologies.

He said that the SAR government lowered the application threshold for the New Industrialisation Acceleration Scheme in November and has also rolled out related support programs offering grants to local companies’ digital transformation initiatives.

Sun added that the Innovation and Technology Industry-Oriented Fund is being hammered out for a launch in the 2026-27 fiscal year.

Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com