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Following is the transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, after the Airport Authority special board meeting today (December 17):
Reporter: So what is the future of this little piece of land and why?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: At the board meeting of the Airport Authority (AA) just then, on behalf of the Government, I conveyed a few key messages. First of all, it is the view of the Government that both the three-runway system for the Airport Authority and the (North) Commercial District, the NCD, should proceed without delay. At the moment we work to a very tight timetable for the three-runway system. The aim is to commission this three-runway system by 2023 if everything goes smoothly, including the Environmental Impact Assessment, the EIA. Now the EIA has all along assumed that the underground depot will be in the location below the current site for the NCD. So we think that the EIA process should proceed without any further complication in order to ensure that we conform to the timetable. Now with that as a constraint, then of course in whatever we do to maximise the development potential of the NCD, we have to accept that the underground depot will be underneath the NCD. So we hope that the AA will seek every opportunity to ensure that there will be good interface compatibility and also to ensure that whatever development is taken forward will maximise the development potential of the NCD. I understand, of course, I think you also know that at the meeting, the AA board agreed that there will be a first stage development in terms of hotels in part of the NCD site. This is also what the Government would like to see.
Reporter: Is this a compromised decision? Is there a compromise being worked out here?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: Given that we have to respect, and indeed we need to strive to adhere to the current tight programme for the three-runway system, then we have to accept that, that will be a constraint on other development. The current EIA for the three-runway system has all along assumed or planned an underground depot below the current NCD site. So that has to be taken as a given, for the purpose of the current planning for the EIA, and we don't want the EIA to have any further complications. So whatever NCD development that is going to be taken forward, we'll take that as one of the factors to be considered.
Reporter: So no compromise?
Secretary for Transport and Housing: I think you may put it as a compromise, and you may also put it as, this is the best way to optimise whatever development potential we can achieve.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Issued at HKT 18:41
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