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Transcript of remarks by STH (2)
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Reporter: Secretary, so basically you are saying the problem will resolve itself, so the Government will not be doing anything for now. That's point one. Second, it should defer to 2017 which is a very important year on another calendar. Is this a political decision? Will you keep in mind public support for whoever the Chief Executive is in 2017?

Secretary for Transport and Housing: We are not saying that the problem has solved itself. When we revisit the road traffic figure, we do realise that on the one hand, the traffic situation along the road network surrounding the Eastern Harbour (Crossing) is actually becoming more congested. At the same time, the number of vehicles using the Cross Harbour Tunnel has decreased. But of course we have to be very careful, that's why we have been monitoring the trend situation very closely. At this point we realise that while there is some support for our original proposal to reduce charges for the Eastern Harbour (Crossing) and to increase charges for the Cross Harbour Tunnel, there is equally great concern among the local communities about the traffic situation, the overall traffic situation in the eastern part of Hong Kong and also Kwun Tong. That's why on balance we feel that perhaps we should wait for a little bit of time and 2017 will indeed be a better time because by 2017 we have the Central-Wan Chai Bypass completed, we have already the return of the Eastern Harbour Crossing to the Government. So with that target of course, we are not saying we'll do nothing now because we have to prepare for that target. So we have to do all the preparatory work for that comprehensive package.

Reporter: Secretary, if you were chosen to make the decision to raise the Cross Harbour (Tunnel), at the same time, you'll decrease the Eastern Harbour (Crossing), you would have made the people who drive to the Cross Harbour Tunnel unhappy. You would have made people who live in, near the road network going to the Eastern Harbour (Crossing) unhappy. So at the end of the day, isn't it the case that you've chosen not to take any step now because the Government lacks popularity and you don't want to risk making more people angry?

Secretary for Transport and Housing: That is not how we considered the issue. When we first proposed the idea of reducing the charges of the Eastern Harbour Crossing users and to increase charges for the Cross Harbour Tunnel users, of course we knew at that time that some people would be happy and some would not be happy. So the sort of happiness factor was already taken into account. But what makes us now more cautious is the latest traffic data, the growing number of vehicles or the traffic leading to the Eastern Harbour (Crossing). So we have to be very pragmatic about the change in the traffic flow.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Issued at HKT 19:30

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