Mainland access and ‘Greater Bay Area’ high on the agenda for Hong Kong delegates to annual meetings of China’s top legislative and advisory body
- Delegates have proposals to build new towns and give greater access to public services for Hongkongers living in mainland China
- About 240 delegates from the city are in Beijing for the meetings of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the National People’s Congress
Ambitious plans to build new towns and grant greater access to public services for Hongkongers in mainland China were among the city’s pro-establishment politicians’ top priorities as they travelled to Beijing for the annual meetings of China’s top legislature and advisory body this weekend.
Thomas Cheung Tsun-yung, a local deputy of the National People’s Congress (NPC), will propose a massive land reclamation project seven times as large as Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s controversial Lantau Tomorrow project.
Other delegates also planned to submit policy proposals on ways to improve transport connectivity, the business environment, and medical services on the mainland, especially in nine Guangdong cities included in the “Greater Bay Area” project.
This year’s “two sessions”, one of the nation’s biggest political events of the year, came less than a month after Beijing issued its long-awaited bay area blueprint to turn Hong Kong, Macau and nine neighbouring mainland cities into a cluster of world-class metropolises, and a thriving global centre of technology, innovation and economic vibrancy rivalling Silicon Valley, by 2035.
The collective economies currently have a combined population of about 70 million and a GDP of HK$11.7 trillion.
