Comments on the Business Park Study

Hong Kong Coalition of Service Industries

April 1999

Current provisions

If there were to be a business park, it should not duplicate what has already been effectively provided for under the current system. The latter include the following:

In our view, the above system will satisfy the need for the bulk of Hong Kong's businesses. There is no demand, for instance, from the mainstream office sectors for a specially zoned “business park”. Additional land could be effectively provided for under the current planning mechanism, such as through an extension to the Central Business District, the creation of new office zones, or the re-zoning from obsolete industrial areas.

As to industrial use, the “traditional” industries are being served by a combination of the current zoning mechanism and the four existing and planned industrial estates. Newer and more technologically oriented industries will be able to take advantage of the Science Park and the Cyberport, in addition to the industrial estates. There does not appear to be a need, therefore, for a special business park for industries, either of a traditional or high-technology nature.

 

A business park for distribution-related industries

From consultation with our members, however, we did identify a cluster of industrial sectors for which a business park may serve a very useful function. These can be loosely described as “distribution-related businesses”. They include distributors, logistic providers, forwarders, SCM (supply chain management) service providers, wholesalers, etc.

The rationale for a business park to provide for these businesses is as follows.

Even as Hong Kong's financial services and high-technology industries continue to grow, it will remain a major trading centre. In fact, financial and high-tech industries will enhance, rather than erode, Hong Kong's status as a trading hub.

At the same time, the trading process as it goes through Hong Kong is continually being re-structured, along with the transformation of Hong Kong's own economy. The result is that the processes that are undertaken in Hong Kong are increasingly of a high value-added nature, rather than the traditional intermediary role. The emphasis will increasingly be on the management aspects of the trading and distribution process; in simple terms, modern supply chain management.

There is an opportunity, therefore, for Hong Kong to take advantage of its sophisticated financial services and high technology level, and its long-established advantages as a trading economy, to develop into a regional logistics centre.

A business park to provide for the distribution-related industries will be very useful in helping Hong Kong become a regional logistics centre. This is because the functions that are required of such a centre are not readily provided for in conventional industrial zones, while the industrial estates and science parks have been earmarked for other purposes. These functions include:

 

Definition of the business park

While we do not disagree with the consultant's definition of the business park – it is of such generality which is difficult to disagree with – we find it to be perhaps too property-driven. An important factor in defining a business park is to conceive of the area as conforming to a certain style and character. This cannot be done without first deciding on what constitute the major activities within the park.