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Following is the translation of the speech by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in moving the motion on the Eastern Harbour Crossing Road Tunnel (Amendment) Bylaw 2012 in Legislative Council today (July 17):
President,
I move that the first motion standing in my name on the agenda be passed.
By virtue of their respective governing Ordinances of the four Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) tunnels, namely Eastern Harbour Crossing (EHC), Tate's Cairn Tunnel (TCT), Western Harbour Crossing (WHC), and Tai Lam Tunnel and Yuen Long Approach Road (also known as "Route 3"), the tunnel franchisees may amend their by-laws to provide for matters relating to the control and operation of the tunnel areas. The making of such by-laws is subject to the approval of the Legislative Council. Today, I will move four motions to be put to vote in succession, to amend the by-laws of the above four BOT tunnels. The key proposed amendments include providing for the adoption of standardised autotoll signage at the four tunnels, allowing the franchisees to regulate vehicular traffic and pedestrians by using light signals, providing for the liability of a vehicle owner to pay toll, specifying more clearly the speed limit for certain vehicles inside the tunnels, and the use of lanes inside the tunnels. These amendments are technical in nature, and aim to align the relevant by-laws with the Government tunnel regulations or with the by-laws made by other BOT tunnel franchisees. Since some of the by-law amendments proposed by the four tunnel franchisees are identical or similar, I shall first give an overall introduction of the key amendments, and then explain the contents of the first motion. I shall introduce the amendments of the remaining three motions when I move each of them later.
Standardised autotoll signage
In May 2009, we introduced into the Legislative Council amendments to the Government tunnel regulations to provide for the adoption of standardised autotoll signage at all Government tolled tunnels, roads and control areas. It was planned that after the standardised autotoll signage was adopted at all Government tolled tunnels, roads and control areas, the four BOT tunnel franchisees would follow suit. The four BOT tunnel franchisees have now put forward such amendment.
Regulating traffic by illuminated traffic signs
At present, illuminated traffic signs or Light Emitting Diode traffic signs are used at all Government tolled tunnels, control areas and Route 3 to regulate traffic. The franchisees of EHC, TCT and WHC have proposed amendments to their by-laws to empower them to regulate traffic in the tunnel areas by using such illuminated traffic signs.
Liability to pay tolls
The by-laws of the WHC and Route 3 provide that both the owner and the driver of a vehicle using the tunnels are liable to pay toll, whereas the by-laws of EHC and TCT only provide that the driver of a vehicle is liable to pay toll. The franchisees of EHC and TCT have proposed amendments to their by-laws to provide that the owner of a vehicle is also liable to pay toll, to reduce instances of toll evasion.
Speed limit for WHC and Route 3
Under section 40 of the Road Traffic Ordinance (Cap. 374), the maximum speed limit on any road for certain vehicles, namely buses, medium goods vehicles and heavy goods vehicles, and vehicles driven by a person holding a probationary driving licence is 70 km/h, even if a higher speed limit is allowed on the relevant roads.
The maximum speed limit for the tunnels of WHC and the Tai Lam Tunnel of Route 3 is 80 km/h. As the existing by-laws of WHC and Route 3 have not specified that the speed of the above-mentioned vehicles driven in the relevant tunnels cannot exceed 70 km/h, the franchisees of WHC and Route 3 have proposed to amend their by-laws to clearly specify that the maximum speed limit for such types of vehicles is 70 km/h. As for EHC and TCT, similar amendments to their by-laws are not necessary as the maximum speed limit for the two tunnels is 70 km/h.
Allowing medium and heavy goods vehicles to use nearside and middle lanes of WHC
At present, all dual-three lane tunnels in Hong Kong allow medium and heavy goods vehicles to use the nearside lane and middle lane of the tunnels, but the by-laws of WHC only allow medium and heavy goods vehicles to use the nearside lane. The WHC franchisee has proposed amendments to its by-laws to allow medium and heavy goods vehicles to use the middle lane of the tunnel. This amendment will improve the traffic flow at WHC as such vehicles will be able to use two lanes instead of one.
I have given an overall introduction of the four amendment by-laws. I will now move on to the details of the first motion. This motion covers amendments made by the franchisee of EHC, the New Hong Kong Tunnel Company Limited under the Eastern Harbour Crossing Ordinance, to amend the Eastern Harbour Crossing Road Tunnel By-laws (the EHC By-laws).
Three key amendments have been mentioned in my overall introduction earlier: first, providing for standardised autotoll signage in the EHC By-laws; second, enabling the franchisee to control vehicular traffic and pedestrians by using light signals; and third, making the owner in addition to the driver of a vehicle liable to pay toll.
The EHC franchisee has also proposed other minor technical amendments, which include requiring all persons in the tunnel area as well as the drivers of vehicles to comply with any order or instruction given by a tunnel officer, updating the "Use dipped headlights" sign, and removing the obsolete prohibition on motor cycles from using the "exact payment" toll booths.
The amendment by-laws proposed by the four tunnel franchisees have been vetted by the Administration. Upon their implementation, motorists will benefit from the standardised autotoll signage, improved traffic flow and road safety at the tunnel areas. I appeal to Members to support this motion.
Subject to the approval of the motion by the Legislative Council, all the amendment by-laws will come into operation on July 20, 2012.
President, I move the motion.
Ends/Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Issued at HKT 21:23
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