The suggestion comes after a Development Bureau announcement this week that 22 Hong Kong and mainland companies had submitted expression of interests in developing three pilot zones in the area.
The zones are located in Hung Shui Kiu, Fanling north and the San Tin Technopole.
Tenders are set to begin in the second half of the year.
Lau Kwok-fan cautioned against the highest-bidder-wins principle.
“The bidders’ financial strength is also crucial,” he said.
“If the government simply allows the highest bidder to win the tender, it’s true that a company might be able to offer a high bid.
“But if the company doesn’t have much assets, the company’s size isn’t big, it doesn’t have experience building largest-scale infrastructure, or it has a high debt ratio, are we really confident that we can hand them such a large area, or confident that the firm can complete the project by the deadline?”
He noted that the government can adopt a two-envelope approach – which takes into account the bidders’ technical competence as well as their financial ability – and awards the tenders to those bidders that have the highest overall scores.
Lau also said given that land in the Northern Metropolis will be developed for various purposes, such as residential and industry, the government should set up a working group to help developers obtain approvals from different bureaus and departments more quickly.
