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Following is a question by the Hon Emily Lau and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Legislative Council meeting today (May 28):
Question:
At present, traffic is unevenly distributed among the three road harbour crossings. In this connection, will the Executive Authorities inform this Council whether:
(a) they have assessed the economic loss incurred by the society as a result of the traffic congestion problem arising from the above situation; if so, of the assessment results;
(b) they have assessed the amount of money needed for the Government to buy out the franchises of the Eastern Harbour Crossing and the Western Harbour Crossing; and
(c) they have drawn up specific measures to rationalise the utilisation of the three crossings; if so, of the details?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) We are very concerned about the problem caused by the congestion at road harbour crossings, and have been studying in earnest possible measures to improve the distribution of traffic at the three road harbour crossings. However, any assessment to calculate actual economic loss should be premised on the comparison of viable alternative options of traffic distribution. Otherwise, we could only proceed with such assessment on the basis of many technical assumptions, and the result may not accurately reflect the actual situation. We consider that no matter which option is to be adopted, it must be able to bring about overall benefit to the public, be fair to taxpayers and help to achieve reasonable distribution of traffic.
(b) Buying out the franchises of Western Harbour Crossing (WHC) and Eastern Harbour Crossing (EHC) would require substantial public funds. We have to consider its feasibility carefully based on the principle of "small government, big market". Calculation of the buy-out price involves forecasting future traffic flow, finding a means to measure the effectiveness of traffic distribution, determining the franchisees' expected toll revenue and other technical problems. It is therefore very difficult to assess the amount of public funds involved at this stage.
(c) The Government agrees that the current traffic distribution among the three crossings is uneven, and there is room for improvement. We have all along attached importance to resolving this problem. The uneven traffic distribution is mainly due to the differences in locations and toll levels of the three crossings. We have been keeping an open-mind and studying in earnest possible measures that may improve the distribution of traffic at the three harbour crossings.
In the meantime, we also need to consider whether the road network connecting the three crossings has sufficient capacity to absorb the increased traffic flow arising from a reduction of tunnel tolls. This is because insufficient capacity of these connecting roads would undermine the objective of rationalisation of cross-harbour traffic flow by adjustment of tunnel tolls. In this connection, accelerating the construction of planned connecting roads, in particular the Central-Wanchai Bypass, is an important element in improving the distribution of traffic amongst the three crossings.
Ends/Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:10
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