The University of Hong Kong is considering its first bond sale to help finance a campus in the Northern Metropolis, an area authorities plan to turn into an innovation hub in one of the city’s biggest-ever infrastructure projects.

HKU can issue the bonds for funding purposes under a $1b medium-term note program, according to a university representative.

HKU plans to meet fixed-income investors in Hong Kong on Wednesday and Thursday to gauge appetite for the potential bond sale, with HSBC arranging the sessions.

The funding drive comes as Hong Kong ramps up development of the Northern Metropolis, a 300-square-kilometer cross-border project the city sees as a future growth pillar. The government plans to allocate HK$10 billion ($1.3 billion) of loans to support campus development in the area, according to the latest fiscal budget, earmarking three land plots for use as a university town.

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Earlier this month, HKU’s executive vice-president for administration and finance, Cherry Tse Ling Kit-Ching, signaled the university planned to apply for space in the area and said it would consider government loans and other funding options, including a bond sale, according to local media reports.

HKU’s potential bond sale would add to other financing efforts to support projects tied to the Northern Metropolis. Railway operator MTR Corp last year secured a HK$30 billion loan to finance the first phase of work on a rail project that would serve the area.

If successful, HKU’s offering would be the first public bond issuance by a Hong Kong university, Bloomberg-compiled data show.