Waters Economics has submitted a written response to the Stage 3 Community Engagement for the Hung Shui Kiu (HSK) New Development Area (NDA) in the North East New Territories, Hong Kong. HSK is planned to be a next generation new town for Hong Kong.
Our submission was titled Implementing HSK as a viable employment node? The question mark is subtle but vital. Whilst we support the overall intention for economic development objectives, we raise concerns about whether the employment target of some 150,000, which will make HSK the largest employment node outside the metro area, can be achieved.
Our submission included analytical evidence to identify some of the weaknesses and illustrate the type of analysis we would expect to see in support of an NDA with such a high employment target.
"HSK needs to increase the planned population and improve housing choice and mix to compete with other destinations, in order to pull in jobs from elsewhere and achieve the employment target." Waters Economics
We agree that the economic positioning of HSK is of strategic significance to Hong Kong but strong competition means HSK needs to demonstrate a clear comparative advantage and there is a lack of credible evidence or analysis on this. HSK aims to be a major new employment node in Hong Kong but the employment target is exceptionally high and will require a significant move against market trends, an aspect which appears to have been overlooked.
The planned population compared to the target employment is too low. To help achieve the economic development objectives and the employment target, we suggest:
- to increase the planned population to support jobs serving local/regional markets
- to improve housing choice and mix, and increase private housing to attract businesses and skilled labour
District Employment per 100 residents, 2014
Persons engaged by district and the ratio of jobs serving external/territorial markets and jobs serving local/regional markets
If you would like to receive a copy of our submission please get in touch with us enquire@waterseconomics.com