Hong Kong Awards 11-Hectare Hung Shui Kiu Development Tender

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the successful tender for an 11-hectare site development project in Hung Shui Kiu marks a breakthrough in the city’s new public-private partnership model, according to ETNet. The project was awarded to a consortium of six groups from different industries, including local developers, mainland state-owned enterprises and a large e-commerce technology company. The scheme carries total investment of about HK$16.8 billion and is expected to create more than 6,000 jobs across construction, logistics operations and commercial management. Chan said the “two-envelope” tender approach was not based on price alone, but also on bidders’ long-term contribution to industrial development and the wider economy. He added that the model helps mobilise private-sector resources, speed up works and reduce the government’s cash outlay. Chan also cited bank research estimating that the Northern Metropolis could generate 500,000 new jobs and contribute at least 13% to Hong Kong’s GDP, with technology-related activities accounting for about four percentage points. To channel financial-market resources, the HKMA and the Hong Kong Association of Banks formed a Northern Metropolis financial advisory task force in April, with 23 banks that have experience in financing large projects. The group has held two meetings to discuss syndicated loans, bond issuance and tailored infrastructure financing. On bond financing, the government issued green bonds and infrastructure bonds equivalent to HK$27.6 billion in May, drawing nearly HK$240 billion in subscriptions and oversubscribed by about 8.6 times. The bonds attracted investors from more than 30 markets across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. Chan said Hong Kong dollar bonds issued from the start of the year to mid-August exceeded HK$670 billion, up nearly 80% from a year earlier and already above last year’s full-year total.