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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary of Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Cheng, at a media stand-up session on the Master Plan 2030 today (March 20):
Reporter: I have two questions. The first, how much the Government estimates this project is going to cost? Secondly, how can the public have any confidence in the environmental impact assessment (EIA), like it should be done fairly, because it is going to take two years of planning government resources into it. How can we ensure even if the impact assessment says it is not viable, the government will stop the project?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: It is very important that we adhere strictly to the statutory requirements, and on this, the Airport Authority has pledged not just to comply with the current standards but the new air quality objectives, so it is with the most professional, and I think with the greatest care that they will undertake the EIA. And leaving no stone unturned, and as I said, all the issues of concern whether it's noise, air quality, marine ecology, those will need to be covered. I think the regulator will impose very strict requirements in this regard, it is going to take two years because it is a complex project and some of the data collected will need to have cycles of various seasons, that's why we estimate right now, it's about 24 months. The cost estimated at the moment is $86.2 billion, that is 2010 fixed price. Of course this will be subject to change because the Airport Authority is now going to undertake details of the scheme design. As we proceed with the scheme design, as we explore more mitigation measures for the project, the cost might increase. They have already assumed certain measures in the original cost estimate as well as price escalation with the time. But of course as we proceed, we will have a better idea of the total cost, and only with that can we proceed to the final stage which is the financing option, how should the new airport expansion be financed.
Reporter: The figure you cited is a 2010 fixed price, so it is already outdated in the period of inflation. And some people estimate the total price of this project is going to equal or exceed .... So my question is when we talk about this amount of money, how long do you think it will take to get pay back, and what is the benefit, so great, that you think we should go ahead with that?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: Now the fixed price...and of course we also have the MOD figure, that is, assuming money of day, meaning that it is going to be completed in a time frame, not in 2010. The MOD figure that the Airport Authority estimated was $136.2 billion, and that of course assumes certain price escalations in it. As with price escalation trends, it is not possible to be very scientific and precise, but we do adopt very practical assumptions here. On the point about the pay back, it is important to understand that the piece of infrastructure, like we did with the current airport that we have, we look at the overall economic benefit. And the economic benefit assesses full Hong Kong in total, it's considerable, exceeds $900 billion over 15 years. As I explained in my remarks that the airport is not just a piece of transport infrastructure, we do need to understand it is an economic engine in itself, upstream I mean whether it is trading or logistics, or high valued-added manufacturing, or downstream whether it is exhibition or retail, it brings benefits to a lot of industries. The expansion into the third runway, in itself, will bring the airport island job creation to over 140,000 jobs. So we do need to look at it in perspective.
Reporter: What is the government's target date to have this third airport runway up and running if the project does on board?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: We expect the Airport Authority to complete its work around the end of 2014, that is, the EIA plus a series of work including scheme design and financing options studies. Thereupon the Government will need to consider the recommendations and inputs. And I think the earliest date probably we can take the decision on the construction will be 2015. The expansion is a very complicated project, it's probably going to be completed in phases. Overall we think it takes about eight years, so it's 2022 to 23, this sort of time frame that we are looking at.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Issued at HKT 19:53
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