Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said on Saturday that the government was studying proposals submitted by various developers and aimed to put one or two large land parcels in the Northern Metropolis project up for tender in the second half of the year.

Linn stressed that the government was prioritising the 300 sq km project near the border with mainland China and was willing to be flexible to facilitate developers in speeding up work.

In March, the government received 22 expressions of interest in the pilot scheme to develop three large land parcels in the Northern Metropolis, including from Henderson Land Development, New World Development, Sino Land and CK Asset Holdings.

According to Linn, about 60 per cent of the expressions of interest came from local enterprises and the remaining 40 per cent from mainland companies.

“We are now analysing and preparing detailed terms of the tender. Our goal is to start the bidding process for at least one or two land parcels in the second half of the year,” Linn said on a radio programme.