A “Hong Kong town” will be built in the city of Dongguan in a municipal pilot project to strengthen the city’s ties with Hong Kong and attract local talent, Chinese authorities announced on Saturday.

The first phase of the project is slated for completion by 2023, according to Liu Yuchang, the town party secretary for the town of Changping, which is part of Dongguan, a large city just north of Hong Kong in Guangzhou province.

At least 80 percent of the houses in Changping, where the “Hong Kong town” will be built, are ready to be demolished for redevelopment, while plans for 97 percent of the core area have been approved, Liu said. Construction is expected to be put out for tender at the end of the year.

Liu said the Hong Kong town is part of a civic pilot project aimed to bolster ties between the two cities and to attract young Hong Kong entrepreneurs to set up businesses in the mainland to spur the growth of new industries.

Once the new town is up and running, authorities plan to roll out policies that would make it easy for Hong Kong residents to apply for housing loans, as well as to receive education, health care and convenient transportation, he added.

Changping was chosen last March as a key area to spearhead the development of modern service industries under a new mode of cooperation that authorities dubbed “Hong Kong service + Dongguan manufacturing.”

Several months later in June, Dongguan mayor Xiao Yafei pledged an investment of 5 billion yuan (US$769 million) to promote the growth and recovery of enterprises in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. He also mentioned a planned Hong Kong-Dongguan International Airport Center in Dongguan port, to boost foreign exports and imports.

But some netizens worry that the government’s plans for a sprawling new development area will turn into yet another “ghost city.”

One internet user posted a video of a relatively new 350,000-square-meter development area in Dongguan that intersects with five intercity rail links connecting Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Dongguan. The video, posted in October last year, shows empty streets except for a few passersby. Aside from a lone KFC restaurant, the stores are all vacant. The netizen commented, “A transfer of industries means a reduction in population? Or do people have no money for consumption anymore?”

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