Almost half of a planned academic town near the border will be built on land in a rural village in Yuen Long, according to Development Secretary Bernadette Linn. The "Northern Metropolis University Town" will be for local educational institutions to strengthen cooperation with their mainland and overseas counterparts. The town, as part of the massive Northern Metropolis project, will cover more than 60 hectares at Hung Shui Kiu, Ha Tsuen, Ngau Tam Mei and a new town in the New Territories. In an exclusive interview with RTHK, Linn said some 20 hectares of the academic district would be around Ping Che and Ta Kwu Ling. The authorities will also reserve about 30 hectares of land in Ngau Tam Mei for the district, Linn said, adding that a full development plan for the village could be unveiled after October's policy address. "Ngau Tam Mei is very close to the San Tin Technopole. They are only one station apart. For the future Northern Link, there will be a station at San Tin and the next southbound station will be Ngau Tam Mei," she said. "We think that the education district in Ngau Tam Mei should be somewhat related to the San Tin Technopole, innovation and technology, and scientific research." Linn also said the government will press ahead with the massive development in the New Territories, after the High Court granted an application for a judicial review of the government's decision to approve the environmental study of the San Tin Technopole project. On the future of the Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands project, the development chief reiterated that the government is pushing back the reclamation process off Lantau, but isn't scrapping the plan. “We are indeed behind the original schedule, but we are not shelving the project. I am concerned that the word 'suspend' may sometimes make people feel that we are putting it down," she said. "We may also prolong the reclamation process, because we certainly have room to think about how many phases the project should be divided into for the 1,000 hectares of reclaimed land."
