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Greater Bay Area
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Exclusive | Hong Kong’s exit from recession is in the market, space, jobs and labour force of the Greater Bay Area, financial secretary says

  • A HK$100 million grant to fund start-ups is still up for grabs for Hongkongers to establish businesses anywhere in the GBA
  • As at the end of last year, 69,292 Hong Kong companies set up in GBA with investment at US$344.37 billion (HK$2.67 trillion), with Guangzhou ranked top

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A screen shows a map of Greater Bay Area during a symposium on the "Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao, Greater Bay Area" in Hong Kong on Thursday, February 21, 2019. Photo: AP
Enoch Yiu

The Greater Bay Area (GBA) of southern China can provide Hong Kong with the potential market and the growth driver for taking the city’s economy out of its worst recession in decades, and a grant by local authorities to funds start-ups is still up for grabs, said Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po.

As job prospects dim amid Hong Kong’s recession, up to 4,000 young people can reach for the HK$100 million (US$13 million) grant set aside to fund as many as 200 start-ups throughout the 11 cities that make up the GBA. Disbursement of the fund, set up last year, was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Similar programmes are available in Zhaoqing and other GBA cities to nurture start-ups.

“A key advantage of the GBA development is [its potential] to expand the living and development space of Hong Kong residents,” Chan said in a 15-page reply to query by South China Morning Post. “As a ‘one-hour living circle’ within the Area has basically been formed, the choices of living, working and studying in the other cities of the GBA have become viable for more people in Hong Kong.”

The cluster of 11 cities, with a combined population of 72 million residents and an economy estimated at US$1.65 trillion – equivalent to the world’s 11th-largest economy behind Canada and ahead of Russia, if it were a stand-alone entity – provides a potential market 10 times the size of Hong Kong. There is also ample land, and access to labour that can ease the two biggest headaches for most start-ups: real estate prices and staff cost. Combined with cultural familiarity and a shared dialect, Hong Kong is in a unique position to take advantage of the GBA’s benefits, Chan said.

Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po during an interview at the Central Government Offices, in Tamar on 11 June 2020. Photo: Nora Tam
Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po during an interview at the Central Government Offices, in Tamar on 11 June 2020. Photo: Nora Tam
The GBA project was first announced in 2016 by the Chinese government to spearhead growth and innovation in the nation’s traditional manufacturing and innovation hub. The ambitious project would connect all 11 cities including Hong Kong and Macau with transport infrastructure including a high-speed rail network, and allow financial services from banking to wealth management to be liberalised within the area’s geographic limits.

The network of highways, railway links and bridges has slashed the overland travel time between Hong Kong and GBA cities, taking as little as 15 minutes to reach Shenzhen from Kowloon, compared with several hours years ago. This creates the possibility for Hong Kong residents to continue living in the city, but work throughout the GBA, or vice versa.

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