Lok Ma Chau Loop

The Lok Ma Chau Loop Innovation and Technology Park (Chinese: 落馬洲河套地區) is a proposed new hi-tech development at the border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. It is located in Hong Kong's New Territories near the area of Lok Ma Chau, on the Sham Chun River.

The development of the park was announced on 3 January 2017 during a joint ceremony by the governments of Hong Kong and Shenzhen. When completed, it will be the largest technology business park in Hong Kong with a size of 87 hectares and is expected to boost the area's global position in technology and provide an incubator for technology start-ups.

Until the 1990s, the Lok Ma Chau loop was part of mainland China. When some engineering work was done to straighten the winding Sham Chun River, the natural border moved north and effectively left the land mass of the loop only accessible from Hong Kong. Dispute of ownership of the land continued until recent years. With the agreement of the technology park, the land dispute has been settled.

Once developed, the park is expected to provide 1.2 million square metres of additional office space to be used by Hong Kong and Shenzhen companies.

The park is expected to be managed by Hong Kong Science and Technology Park Corporation.

The proposed park is located in a current green land area, a buffer zone between the urban agglomerations of Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Environmental groups claim the park is located in an important flightpath for migratory birds. The wetlands form an ecosystem that continues west along Sham Chun River and the development may thus affect Deep Bay. The Hong Kong wetland park and the Mai Po Marshes are also along this route. The groups estimate the loss of 4,000 trees, 11 hectares of reed marsh and 9 hectares of ponds.

Hong Kong has two existing high profile business and technology parks, Cyberport on Hong Kong Island and Science Park, also in the New Territories. Both were conceived in the wake of the 1997 Asia financial crisis in order to boost technology investments, but their uptake has been slow and is only just starting to come to fruition. Especially Cyberport has been marred with image problems, starting from its delayed development to lacking in commercial success.

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