Following the progressive development of the Northern Metropolis, the residential and employment population will gradually increase. The transport demand for east-west connectivity within the Northern Metropolis and cross-boundary connections will therefore be very strong in the future. The Government is conducting an investigation study for Northern Metropolis Highway (NMH).

Currently, the traffic flow between northeast and northwest of the New Territories mainly relies on the Fanling Highway, San Tin Highway and Yuen Long Highway of Route 9. Upon commissioning of the NMH, it will serve as an alternative route for members of the public travelling in the Northern Metropolis. It can effectively divert about 40% of the traffic flow between the New Territories East and West during peak hours, thereby alleviating the traffic pressure on the abovementioned existing roads and enhancing the stability and resilience of the overall road network in the New Territories North (NTN).

Apart from diverting the traffic flow, the NMH will provide a number of interchanges to connect to the existing major highways and link up the development nodes in the Northern Metropolis, including Ngau Tam Mei, San Tin Technopole, Kwu Tung North/Fanling North and NTN New Town. This will significantly improve the transport efficiency of the strategic road network in the northern part of the New Territories. Furthermore, the NMH will enhance the accessibility of the new development areas to tie in with the development projects in the areas, including the Northern Metropolis University Town, the third medical school and an integrated medical teaching and research hospital, Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park at Lok Ma Chau Loop, data centres at Sandy Ridge and the joint-user government building in Kwu Tung North, as mentioned in the Chief Executive’s 2024 Policy Address, as well as other projects related to the economic and housing development.
The NMH is a major east-west corridor linking the development nodes in the Northern Metropolis, with a total length of 23 kilometers, which is the largest single road project in Hong Kong so far.


Preliminary Alignment

The preliminary alignment of the NMH connects Tin Shui Wai to the New Territories North New Town near Ping Che, and consists of the following four major road sections –

(i) Tin Shui Wai Section – an approximately 5.5 km-long highway connecting Tin Tsz Road at Tin Shui Wai to San Tin Highway near Kam Tin;

(ii) San Tin Section – an approximately 7 km-long highway connecting San Tin Highway near Kam Tin to Fanling Highway (Pak Shek Au Section) near Kwu Tung North/Fanling North NDAs (KTN/FLN NDAs);

(iii) Kwu Tung Section – an approximately 4.5-km long highway connecting Fanling Highway (Pak Shek Au Section) near KTN/FLN NDAs to Lo Wu/Man Kam To areas; and

(iv) NTN New Town Section – an approximately 6 km-long highway connecting Lo Wu/Man Kam To areas to Heung Yuen Wai Highway and Sha Tau Kok Road.


Implementation Strategy

The Government will adopt a principle of “Holistic Planning and Phased Implementation” in taking forward the entire NMH project. Unlike the past practice of implementing projects separately with regard to individual transport demand of a certain district, the Investigation will carry out advance work for the entire 23 km-long NMH. This will help expedite the implementation of other sections in the future. When the planning of NDAs is finalised progressively and transport demand is anticipated at relevant road sections, the Government will be able to promptly commence the detailed design and construction works after obtaining the Legislative Council’s funding approval. Upon completion of the Investigation, the Government will actively take forward the next stage of work for the San Tin Section of the NMH. The target is to have the San Tin Section technically ready for tendering in 2027 so that funding approval can be sought from the Legislative Council as and when necessary for carrying out the advance works and detailed design as well as commencing the main construction works of the San Tin Section, with a view to commissioning the San Tin Section in or before 2036.

As for the remaining sections of the NMH, a traffic impact assessment will be conducted based on the latest planning parameters of the NDAs (including reviewing the need for extension of the NMH or proposing other road improvement projects). We will take into account the transport infrastructure projects in the pipeline, including the capacity of roads and railways, overall cost-effectiveness and allocation of public resources, etc., in formulating a more concrete implementation programme, with a view to completing the remaining sections of the NMH in phases in about 3 to 4 years after the commissioning of the San Tin Section.

Meanwhile, the Government is taking forward a number of transport infrastructure projects related to the Northern Metropolis, including the Fanling Bypass, widening of Fanling Highway and the Northern Link to enhance road and railway networks connecting the metropolis and beyond, so as to cope with the future transport demand of relevant NDAs.


Site Investigation

As the NMH will pass through a large number of undeveloped areas, available site investigation information is relatively limited. A certain amount of site investigation works are needed to conduct, such as vertical drill holes, trial pits and horizontal directional drilling works which are necessary for the design of tunnels, etc., to assess different alignment options and complete the relevant preliminary design.

Following the further finalisation of the planning and layouts of the NDAs in the Northern Metropolis recently, about one-third of the road sections originally proposed to be constructed in tunnel form could be constructed in form of at-grade roads or viaducts without affecting the overall land use. The aggregated length of tunnel sections of NMH is expected to be reduced from around 15 kilometres to around 10 kilometres (including the tunnel section of the 6-km long NTN New Town Section, which can be reduced from the original proposal of about 2 kilometres to the current estimate of about 0.5 kilometres). Since the site investigation works required for the design of at-grade roads or viaducts are generally less than those for tunnels, the amount of site investigation works to be carried out under could be reduced accordingly.

Innovative Technologies

In order to complete the extensive assessment and design work under the investigation study as early as possible, the Government will adopt innovative technologies to enhance project management. In the consultancy agreement for the
investigation, the Government has stipulated provisions requiring consultants to establish an electronic platform for the Government, consultants, and relevant stakeholders to submit and respond to documents electronically to enhance efficiency in carrying out the investigation. At the same time, this platform can set up regular reminders to prompt relevant stakeholders to respond on time, notify the Highways Department to take early actions in complicated cases, so as to ensure that the Investigation and related statutory procedures can be completed on time.
In order to encourage consultants to make extensive use of innovative technology in the investigation study, the Highways Department has set out in the assessment criteria of the tender documents the requirement for the consultants to propose new technologies suitable for application in the Investigation in their technical proposals in order to obtain a higher technical score. Consultants proposed the use of advanced technology to carry out a number of tasks under the investigation study, including using drones to conduct large-scale traffic and tree surveys in lieu of manual work, more extensive use of the Building Information Modelling technology to enhance team collaboration and increase productivity.


Commencement of Investigation

The Highways Department officially commences the investigation for the Northern Metropolis Highway and targets to prioritise the completion of works for the NMH San Tin Section in 25 months and its technical readiness for tendering the main works in 2027. It includes the optimisation of alignment and interchange locations, carrying out the Environmental Impact Assessment and the gazettal procedures, as well as completing site investigations, other impact assessments and the preliminary design of the San Tin Section in parallel, with a view to expediting the implementation of the project.


Source of information & picture: Website of Highways Department & Discussion paper of Legislative Council Public Works Subcommitte