HONG KONG -- John Lee, chief executive of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), on Wednesday announced the establishment of the Committee on Development of the Northern Metropolis under his leadership with the aim of speeding up the development of the area.

"The Northern Metropolis, our city's strategic development area bordering Shenzhen, covers a land area and planned population intake accounting for about one-third of Hong Kong's total," Lee said, while delivering his policy address, adding that the area represents a substantial source of economic value and development potential.

Lee said that the committee, under which three working groups will be set up, will be tasked with streamlining administrative workflows and removing unnecessary barriers and restrictions.

The Working Group on Devising Development & Operation Models will formulate development and operation models for industry parks in the Northern Metropolis, taking into account their nature and scale.

The Working Group on Planning & Construction of the University Town will set up a research task force to conduct field trips on the successful models of university towns elsewhere, seeking views from local, mainland, and other internationally renowned universities.

The Working Group on Planning & Development will be responsible for managing the end-to-end process from planning to implementation. It will comprise a dedicated project supervision office to strengthen the coordination and supervision of the approval process.

Lee said that dedicated legislation will be introduced to speed up the Northern Metropolis development, empowering the HKSAR government to devise simplified statutory procedures for a number of issues.