Only about 7 per cent of the submissions to the board, the statutory body assessing land zoning applications, backed the development.
Those in favour included representatives from the innovation and technology (I&T) industry, as well as business and construction-related sectors.
The remaining submissions made suggestions for the project.
The Planning Department told the Post that 180 people, representing almost 12 per cent of the total number submissions, would attend the hearing on Friday next week and the board would hold three additional sessions in early July.
The plan requires filing in 90 hectares of fish ponds and rezoning current wetland areas, which has prompted several former government advisers to voice opposition in their personal capacities, including ex-board member Bill Hau Chi-hang.
“When the world is talking about climate change and nature-based solutions, this proposal will make Hong Kong disgraceful as Asia’s World City,” he said.
Hau added that the plan would damage wetlands in Deep Bay, the body of water shared by Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
He suggested building the I&T zone in the southern part of San Tin, which the administration had earmarked for a city centre with 54,000 flats under its plan.
Ruy Octavio Barretto, a former member of the steering committee on biodiversity strategy and a director of Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, also said rezoning wetland would discourage tech companies from setting up in the city due to the impact on brand image.
“Greenwashing will not remove the stain caused by tech companies’ use of biodiverse wetlands. When competing with [the Greater Bay Area], the technopole will be leased at a disadvantage,” he said.
The bay area is Beijing’s initiative to turn Hong Kong, Macau and nine southern Chinese cities into an economic powerhouse.
Former Hong Kong Observatory director Lam Chiu-ying also voiced worries over the choice of location for the technopole.
Most of the other opponents were concerned residents.
An overwhelming majority of residents who made submissions favoured adopting a template provided by green groups. One also changed the lyrics of a pop song to describe the possible consequences of filling in ponds.
At least four green groups, namely the Conservancy Association, Birdlife International, the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society and Green Sense, urged authorities not to rezone wetland conservation areas or buffer zones into land to be used by the I&T sector.
The I&T sector, including the Hong Kong Productivity Council and its two subsidiary research centres, supports the development. The council is a statutory body aimed at driving new industrialisation.
Sunny Chai Ngai-chiu, chairman of the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, and Simon Chan Sai-ming, chairman of the Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company, also endorsed the development in their individual capacities.
Both companies, wholly owned by the government, currently provide facilities, office space and support for I&T companies.
Chan said the technopole project was a way for Hong Kong to keep pace with other economies in its drive towards developing its digital economy and becoming a smart city, while also consolidating its competitive edge and international position.
Two other Cyberport directors, Michael Leung Kin-man and Yeung Chuen-sing, as well as Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong executive vice-president Ma Kai-yum, also voiced their support as individuals of the society.
Bodies representing architects, surveyors, urban designers and developers endorsed the plan but raised suggestions for improving the area’s transport network and building more private flats by adjusting the 7:3 public-private housing ratio.
Despite supporting I&T development, town planning veteran Iris Tam Siu-ying, also a former managing director of Urban Renewal Authority, called on authorities to set out more statutory requirements to ensure future facilities could integrate with nearby wetland and rural villages.
Doctoral Exchange, a public policy research collective founded by Francis Neoton Cheung, a member of the Chief Executive’s Policy Unit Expert Group, favoured the I&T development but objected to damaging the existing wetlands and suggested building the innovation hub in a nearby green belt area instead.
Some villagers living within the development area raised concerns about pollution brought by construction and urged the government to increase the number of facilities nearby.
According to regular procedures, board members will listen to public views and discuss the plan. If they decide to follow the government’s rezoning suggestions, the technopole project can get their green light but it will still be subject to approval from the chief executive and his advisers.
The technopole is one of the controversial projects subject to new town planning procedures that were streamlined to cut the time needed for rezoning from 11 months to seven months.
It is also part of the government’s Northern Metropolis development, a project that aims to turn 30,000 hectares of land in the New Territories into a housing and economic powerhouse.
Additional reporting by Vivian Au