'Don't Worry About Cost Of Northern Metropolis'

The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui, says there will be enough funds to develop a metropolis in northern New Territories, as long as the government can find the most efficient plan to utilise both public money and private capital.

The plan for a 300 square kilometres Northern Metropolis was unveiled in Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s policy address, but she did not give a cost estimate.

Speaking on a Commercial Radio programme on Sunday, Hui said the plan is “very much worth doing”, but sidestepped questions on whether the government had studied how much it would cost.

"I'm not worried about not having enough money [to support the plan]. Rather, it’s about how we could find the most efficient plan, for us to fully manoeuvre public and private capital," Hui said.

He also commented on another proposal in the policy address for Hong Kong and Guangzhou to join hands on emission trading.

The minister said the Securities Futures Commission and the Exchanges and Clearing authorities will set up a task force to look at how the two places' bourses can cooperate on relevant financial products.