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Following is the speech by the Secretary for Works, Mr H S Kwong, at the Luncheon of Project Chambers HK at the HK Club today (Friday):
Mr Chairman, ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak to members of the Project Chambers about our public works and infrastructural development. I am sure most of you have been involved, one way or another, with our past and the present development, and will have followed very closely concerning our plans for the future.
One of the factors underpinning the success of Hong Kong is its well-developed infrastructure. Indeed, to sustain our projected population, social and economic growth, and to provide adequate housing and other supporting facilities, we need to plan ahead, and to ensure timely action for improving and expanding our facilities including those for power and water supply, land and building development, transportation systems, as well as port and airport development. We have a population of some 6.6 million people now. It is expected to increase to about 8.3 million by 2016.
Hong Kong has been characterised by its severe geographical constraints, some two thirds of our territory are either hilly or with difficult accessibility. In the early nineties, we started to build our new airport at Chek Lap Kok. Together with the related transportation and land formation projects, this HK$155Bn Airport Core Programme has been the largest integrated construction programme we have ever implemented in Hong Kong. This experience has provided us confidence in the ability of our construction industry to deliver mega projects, with a scale comparable with other major projects in the world.
The completion of our new airport will not result in a decline in our future investment in infrastructural development. Government is firmly convinced of the importance to build for the future.
Despite the recent economic downturn that has to be endured by almost all sectors of our society, Government is committed to spending even more on the necessary infrastructural programme and other public works.
As we announced in the Budget earlier this year, Government will be spending some HK$235bn in the five years from 1997/98 to 2001/02 on public works and infrastructural development. This will be 50 per cent more than we invested in the ACP. It includes investments in the West Rail Phase I, the Ma On Shan Railway and the MTR Tseung Kwan O Extension, amounting to a total of over HK$110bn. The rest will be spent on our Public Works Programme, consisting of over 1,000 project items. In the following, I would like to talk briefly on some of the railway projects and highlight some major public works items.
Railway Development
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We announced our Railway Development Strategy in 1994 for a major expansion in Hong Kong's railway system in which priority will be given to the construction of a number of railway projects. These include the West Rail, the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) extension to Tseung Kwan O (TKE), a rail link between Ma On Shan and Tai Wai, and an extension of the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) from Hung Hom to Tsim Sha Tsui.
The West Rail will be a 53 km north-south rail corridor comprising 3 services :
(1) a domestic passenger service which will form a link
between North West New Territories and the urban area;
(2) a cross-border passenger service which will connect
to the existing control point at Lo Wu and a new crossing
point to be established at Lok Ma Chau; and
(3) a new cross-border freight service.
Phase I of the West Rail, which is 30 km long comprising 2 long tunnels, elevated structures and railway embankments, will be implemented through the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation. Following the Ground-Breaking Ceremony held in October, work on the design and build contracts for the Tai Lam Tunnel and Kwai Tsing Tunnel is underway. Other packages of works items will commence progressively.
The Tseung Kwan O Extension will provide the much needed mass transit service to meet the new town's growth and external commuting traffic. This railway is 12.5 km long. A number of contracts have recently been awarded. The railway is expected to be completed in 2002.
The KCR Ma On Shan to Tai Wai Link will provide a passenger rail service comprising a 10 km new railway line to serve the new town. The project is at detailed planning stage and is targetted for commencement in early 2000 and for completion in 2004.
Public Works Programme
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Of the major projects in our Public Works Programme, let us first look at two proposed major land formation projects being planned.
The first one is Green Island Development.
The development will provide land for further development in the Western District of Hong Kong Island. It comprises reclamation between the western tip of Hong Kong Island and a small offshore island covering an area of about 186 ha.
It will provide land for:
* development of residential and community facilities;
* open space and an urban fringe park;
* a new highway called Route 7 from south to west of Hong
Kong Island;
the southern section of the proposed superhighway, Route 10; and the extension of the Mass Transit Railway to the Green Island Reclamation area through Kennedy Town.
Construction works is scheduled to start in 2001.
The second one is Southeast Kowloon Development.
With 280 ha of land released from the old airport and land to be reclaimed from adjacent waters of the Kowloon Bay and Kai Tak Nullah, an area of about 580 ha will be available for development. This together with land to be rezoned from existing urban areas adjoining the old airport site will form the basic area for the Southeast Kowloon Development.
The Southeast Kowloon Development is a very important project for Hong Kong's development in the 21st Century, intended to transform the previous Kai Tak Airport and the nearby Kowloon Bay areas into a comprehensively designed 'City within a City'.
Development and restructuring of the area required a wide range of engineering works - reprovisioning of marine and land-based facilities, reclamation, highway construction, and the provision of drainage, sewerage, sewage treatment and other public utilities.
A total of about 113 ha of land within the development is reserved for open space, including a Metropolitan Park of about 50 ha - a key feature to function as a city lung within the built up area.
It could become one of the most important strategic growth areas within the existing urban area. By 2016, upon the completion of the whole project, the area will house about 320,000 people, with first population intake commencing 2003. A total of 123 ha of land will be reserved for housing development.
Highway development remains an important part of the public works programme in the next few years. To sustain growth and development, we have expanded our road system tremendously, especially since 1970s. Total area of road carriageways has been increased from about 11 sq km in 1982 to about 20 sq km in 1998.
The vehicle density on our roads is very high. By the end of 1997, we have over 500,000 licensed vehicles with some 1,800 km of roads. This high vehicle density, combined with our difficult terrain and dense urban development, poses a constant challenge to our highways system. In the next 5 years, over HK$30 Bn will be invested to further enhance our system. I would like to briefly describe a few major highway projects that will soon commence.
The first one is Route 10.
This 30 km Route will be a new superhighway in Hong Kong's road network. It forms the central section of a proposed Western Highway. It will provide not only additional road capacity in Hong Kong, but also the opportunity for development in the western part of the New Territories and on Green Island Reclamation. Furthermore, as part of the Western Highway, it will ultimately provide for improved cross boundary road links with the highway networks in the Pearl River Delta Area.
The 15km Green Island to North Lantau section of this project will include a 4 km three lane twin tube tunnel, 3 km of which to be in the form of submerged tube. Another 14.5km section from North Lantau to Yuen Long is now under more active planning. It will be a dual-3 lane highway and will include a 2 km suspension bridge and a 5 km tunnel. When completed, the Tsing Lung Bridge will have a much longer span than the Tsing Ma Bridge. The design of the bridge has been complicated by the need to provide adequate clearance above the shipping channel below, while at the same time keeping the bridge towers below the new airport height restriction envelope.
Construction of this section of the Route 10 will commence in 2002 for completion in 2009.
The second one is Route 9 - Tsing Yi to Cheung Sha Wan Section.
Route 9 is an expressway linking the new airport at Chek Lap Kok with the West Kowloon at Cheung Sha Wan. The proposed Tsing Yi to Cheung Sha Wan Section is part of the Route 9, connecting to the existing North Lantau Highway and Lantau Link.
This section of Route 9 will provide an alternative route to Route 3 between Tsing Yi and West Kowloon and will connect with the proposed Container Terminal No. 9, Route 16 and the West Kowloon Highway. This 7.6 km section is planned to be a dual 3-lane highway, comprising a 1.4 km twin tube bored tunnel, a suspension or cable-stayed bridge with a main span of about 1,000 m, and some 4 km of approach viaducts.
Construction will commence in 2002 for completion in 2006.
The third one is Route 16.
Route 16 will provide a new expressway running from Sha Tin to West Kowloon. It will be of dual 3-lane standard including two sections of tunnels of a total length of 3.6 km. It will significantly alleviate traffic congestion at Lion Rock Tunnel, Tate's Cairn Tunnel and Tai Po Road.
Construction will commence in 2001 for completion in 2004.
The fourth one is Central Kowloon Route.
The Central Kowloon Route is a proposed 2.6 km dual 2-lane tunnel in the existing urban Kowloon Peninsula, linking the West Kowloon Highway and the road network at the proposed South East Kowloon Reclamation. It is required to relieve traffic congestion in Central Kowloon induced by the additional traffic generated by planned developments on the West Kowloon Reclamation and the South East Kowloon Reclamation. To minimise demolition of private residential property at its western end, a route has been carefully chosen to pass between existing buildings. Towards the east, the tunnel is to be double decked, in order to reduce the width required, so as to minimise impacts on adjacent existing properties. Construction of the main works is planned to take place between 2003 and 2007.
Port Development
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Hong Kong has the world's busiest container port. In 1997, we handled a total of 14.5 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of containers. The forecast of throughput this year is about 15 million TEUs, or a growth rate of 1-2% this year. The slowdown of the growth rate is mainly due to the impact of last year's Asia economic crisis and growing competition from neighbouring ports such as those in Shenzhen. Although the throughput of Shenzhen ports is still relatively small (1.9 million TEUs this year), compared to HK's 15 million TEUs, we must continue to improve our competitiveness in order to protect our position.
The three commercial parties - Asia Container Terminals (ACT), Modern Terminals Limited (MTL), and Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) - have completed negotiation among themselves and with the Government for the joint development of CT9 and signed the Land Grants with the Director of Lands just a few days ago (last Tuesday, December 8).
Allowing a few months for mobilisation work, such as calling tender and selecting the contractors, construction work will begin in mid-1999. The first berth will come into operation in mid-2002. The new terminal will have six berths and a designed capacity to handle 2.6 million TEUs a year.
Government is working closely with the container terminals to consider measures to increase the competitiveness of our container port, including further rationalisation of the backup land of the terminals, speeding up cross-boundary movement of container trucks, and promoting river trade to reduce the cost of moving containers between HK and the Pearl River Delta, etc.
Government will closely monitor the growth of the port in the next few years before deciding on the timing for CT10 and 11.
Looking ahead, there remains plenty of opportunities for professionals engaged in all fields of services relating to the planning and delivery of public works and infrastructure projects, as well as any subsequent operation and management that may be necessary. We are sure that, apart from helping to create thousands of new jobs as these projects are progressively implemented, the new infrastructure and facilities will contribute to a much better foundation for the Hong Kong SAR for even greater achievement in the new millennium.
Thank you.
End/Friday, December 11, 1998
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