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Following is a speech by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at the Ground Breaking Ceremony for the Midfield Development today (December 10):
Marvin (Cheung), Stanley (Hui), distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
I am most delighted to join you all today at the ground breaking ceremony of the midfield concourse.
The Airport Authority (AA) excels in managing and developing our airport facilities, providing users with world-class services.
The Authority has an eye on future growth, and invests in infrastructure in a timely manner. Last year, we saw the completion of a series of projects on the airport island, such as the SkyPier and the North Satellite Concourse, which have enhanced the capacity at Terminal 1 and the airfield.
Today we witness the kicking off of the construction works of the first phase of the midfield expansion development. With the completion of the expansion in 2015, we will be able to handle 10 million more passengers per year and provide more parking stands for both passengers and cargo operation. This is an important addition to the infrastructure inventory of the Hong Kong International Airport that will increase the airport's handling capacity to about 70 million passengers and 6 million tonnes of cargo, which is expected to cope with air traffic demand by 2020.
Timely planning and implementation of essential infrastructure is very important. For the airport, if we face capacity constraints and have to turn away demand, it is not just the aviation community that will suffer, but the users, economic activities upstream and downstream, as well as the community at large that will have to pay the price. Delayed implementation of essential infrastructure will also result in rising construction costs and deferred realisation of economic benefits. But most importantly, if we lose our competitive edge as an aviation hub to our competitors, Hong Kong's long-term economic development will be compromised.
So, we have the plans and projects well in place to take care of needs from now to 2020. Beyond 2020, we need to take forward longer-term plans to meet our future needs. The Government has been maintaining a close partnership with the Authority in delivering the Master Plan 2030, which sets out two strategic development options for the airport. In June to September 2011, the Authority conducted a comprehensive three-month public consultation exercise to collate views from the public. We look forward to receiving a recommendation from the Authority on the way forward soon. We will study the recommendation carefully with a view to deciding as soon as we can on the next stage of work.
Ladies and gentlemen, I congratulate the Authority for reaching an important milestone today, and wish the Authority every success in the midfield development project. As always, the Government will work closely with the AA. I look forward to a project that will be completed on time, within budget and maintain high safety standards.
Thank you.
Ends/Friday, December 9, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:43
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