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Following is a transcript of remarks (English portion) by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, on the recommendation from the Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) to the Government on the Master Plan 2030:
Reporter: (How will the Government take forward the recommendation made by the AA?)
Secretary for Transport and Housing: I think the message is very clear that the majority of the people of Hong Kong do want to see the timely development of our airport, because they do recognise that apart from travel convenience, an airport is not just an airport - it is an important part of our economy. It will produce economic benefits, and a large employment opportunity. It is important for Hong Kong's long-term competitiveness. It's also important that we recognise nearly 80 per cent of the Hong Kong people are telling us, "Please, it is an urgent decision. Can you make it the soonest possible?"
Now that we've got the Airport Authority's recommendation, our aim is to complete our own procedures. And of course, it is a very important decision to trigger the next stage of work. And we aim to do that in the first quarter of next year, so that's within the next three months. I think for a very important decision like this, it will be an all-round consideration. Of course, that's economic, environment, social - all respects we need to consider very carefully before we proceed. But right now the important thing is to step up the time. A lot of the answers can only be made with the carrying out of a detailed environmental impact study, and that's the next stage of work that we need to decide, to trigger. Apart from that, it's the related work of the engineering study and design, as well as the financing. The three are related: for example, during the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment), a lot of mitigation measures may need to be adopted, and that will have cost implications. And in turn, we will have implications on the financing package, so that's why the three aspects are related. And I think when we trigger, that will be the work of the next quarter. And we can deal with the next stage of work after the first quarter of 2012.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Thursday, December 29, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:47
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