By Clare Jim

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Henderson Land Development Co, one of Hong Kong's four major developers, plans to lend more land to the government to build transitional homes and is keen to help accelerate development of an area close to the Chinese border.

Martin Lee, co-chairman of Henderson - which has the largest farmland reserves among developers - said Hong Kong's pledge to build the "Northern Metropolis" is an "inevitable trend", as the financial hub integrates deeper with the Greater Bay Area (GBA).

"With the development opportunities in the Greater Bay Area, many locals will be attracted to live in the North West New Territories in the future," Lee told Reuters in an email interview.

The Hong Kong government unveiled plans for the Northern Metropolis last year, with an aim to provide homes for around 2.5 million people in remote districts close to the mainland border in a bid to ease a chronic housing shortage.

The development will be a stone's throw from the Greater Bay Area, a Chinese government scheme to link Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

Affordable housing has been a priority for all of Hong Kong's leaders since the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997 but despite their efforts, many people still live in cramped flats in one of the world's most expensive property markets.

Hong Kong's new leader, John Lee, said he would be "pragmatic" in increasing land and housing supply, responding to Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent call to provide "a better life, a bigger flat" for Hong Kong people.

Beijing identified housing woes as a major factor behind discontent in Hong Kong, especially among the city's youth, that led to the pro-democracy, anti-government protests in 2019.

In recent years, developers have stepped up support for Hong Kong's housing policies as China urged corporations to do more for society.

Henderson owns the most land in the rural areas. It has applied to a government pilot scheme to build public housing on a farmland plot, and lent idle land to the government for building transitional housing - a temporary solution for people to improve their living conditions before they are allotted public housing.

"If the government intends to take back the land for the construction of public housing or for other public purposes, we will also cooperate," said Lee, who took over the property giant with his brother from father Lee Shau Kee in 2019.

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