Consultants Propose New Town To House 350,000

Consultants have submitted a 20-year plan to the government to develop the northern New Territories into a residential area that can house hundreds of thousands of people.

The consultancy study lays out two proposals. The more ambitious of the two would see 350,000 residents housed in a 5,300 hectare area close to the border, spanning Lok Ma Chau, San Tin and Ping Che.

The study says the housing density should be exactly the same as that of Kowloon.

A second proposal would see enough flats built to accommodate 250,000 people. Consultants say both plans would create some 210,000 jobs.

A third proposal was floated, but even the consultants say it shouldn't be adopted. While this plan C would house 400,000 people, there'd only be jobs for less than half – meaning a lot of people would need to travel long distances to work, and the impact on traffic would be more serious.

The report says the proposals are merely "conceptual", and it did not specify how much each option would cost.

The study also looks into the potential of using the Fanling golf courses for housing development. It says more than 13,000 flats could be built to accommodate 37,000 residents if the area was fully developed.

The Planning Department and the Civil Engineering and Development Department jointly commissioned the consultancy study in 2014.