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Following is a question by the Hon Wong Kwok-kin and a written reply by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, in the Legislative Council today (February 25):
Question:
In recent years, the Government has launched a number of large-scale development projects in East Kowloon and the adjacent areas, such as the Kai Tak Development, Energizing Kowloon East, the Anderson Road Public Housing Development and the Development of Anderson Road Quarry site. However, since the traffic in East Kowloon is already very congested at present and there is insufficient space in the area for road network expansion, local residents are concerned that the additional vehicular flows arising from such new development projects will aggravate the traffic congestion in the area. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the design capacities of the following five road sections: Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong Bypass, Clear Water Bay Road near Choi Hung Interchange, Clear Water Bay Road bound for Lung Cheung Road and the roundabout at Kwun Tong Town Centre bound for Hoi Yuen Road; the (i) average vehicle speed, (ii) average traffic throughput, and (iii) annual growth rate of traffic throughput in these road sections during peak hours in the past five years; the percentages of the present traffic throughput of these road sections in their design capacities (set out such information in a table); what short-term and medium-term measures are in place to (i) alleviate the traffic congestion in these road sections, and (ii) divert the additional vehicular flows that will arise from the new development projects;
(2) of the progress of the various sub-projects (including the Central Kowloon Route, the Trunk Road T2 and the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel) of the Route 6 Project, which are planned to ease the traffic loads on the roads in East Kowloon; whether the authorities will submit the funding proposals for these sub-projects to the Finance Committee of this Council within the current term of the Government;
(3) given the authorities' advice in 2011 that the judicial review of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge had affected the EIA of the Route 6 Project, of the respective lengths of delay, the original and revised work progress schedules, as well as the cost estimates and the rates of increase in such estimates of the various sub-projects of the Route 6 Project (set out such information in a table); and
(4) of the number of views received by the authorities on the proposed works of the Tseung Kwan O-Lam Tin Tunnel, the Central Kowloon Route and the Trunk Road T2 during their gazettal periods, and whether all the views received have been dealt with?
Reply:
President,
The Government has been closely monitoring the traffic situation in East Kowloon. When handling new development projects (especially housing development projects), the Government will request project proponents to conduct traffic impact assessments and put forward mitigation proposals to ensure that the transport infrastructure would be able to cope with the additional traffic flow brought by the new development projects.
My reply to the various parts of the Hon Wong Kwok-kin's question is as follows:
(1) The designed capacities of Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong Bypass, Clear Water Bay Road and Hoi Yuen Road, and the average vehicle speed, traffic volume, growth rate of traffic volume, volume to capacity ratio of Kwun Tong Road, Kwun Tong Bypass and Clear Water Bay Road during the morning peak hours from 2009 to 2013 are at the Annex. As the traffic survey statistics for 2014 are still being processed, such information is not shown in Annex. Moreover, as the Transport Department only collects statistics on traffic flow of major roads, data for the roundabout at Kwun Tong Town Centre bound for Hoi Yuen Road is not available.
Larger-scale development projects in Kwun Tong district in recent years include the Anderson Road Public Housing Development and the Anderson Road Quarry Development as well as the Kwun Tung Town Centre Redevelopment project.
In the short term, to tie in with the Anderson Road Public Housing Development, the Government has already completed a series of road improvement works to increase the traffic capacity at road junctions in the vicinity. In the medium term, the Government also proposes a series of road and junction improvement measures (such as widening of road junctions, increase the number of traffic lanes and flyovers, adjustment of traffic signal timing, etc.) to complement the Anderson Road Quarry Development.
In addition, the Civil Engineering and Development Department proposes to construct four pedestrian links connecting the Anderson Road Quarry Development area and the neighbouring housing estates, Kwun Tong town centre, Kwun Tong rail station and the proposed Bus-to-Bus Interchange at the Tseung Kwan O Tunnel toll plaza. According to the alignment of the proposed links, there will be footbridges with lift towers or escalators to attract residents of the public housing estates and private estates on the hillside so as to reduce their demand for shuttle services of minibuses and buses.
As regards the Kwun Tung Town Centre Redevelopment project, most bus and minibus stops in town centre will be relocated to the public transport interchange at Development Areas 2 and 3 of the Redevelopment project after completion of the Redevelopment project. Moreover, to facilitate vehicles travelling to and from the public transport interchange, the Urban Renewal Authority will widen a road section from Hip Wo Street leading to the public transport interchange within the area of the Redevelopment project so as to relieve the road traffic in the vicinity.
(2) to (4) Since the Court of First Instance handed down its judgment on the judicial review (JR) case regarding the environmental impact assessment (EIA) reports of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) projects on April 18, 2011, there was a need for numerous public works projects under design and planning stages at that time to review the contents of the submitted EIA reports and the EIA in progress in order to meet the requirements laid down by the court's judgment. In view of the uncertainties brought about by the JR, the Government had to review the comprehensiveness of the then on-going EIA of the Route 6 projects, including the Central Kowloon Route (CKR), Tseung Kwan O – Lam Tin Tunnel (TKO-LLT) and the Trunk Road T2, and consider how best to meet the requirements on baseline assessment imposed by the judgment of the Court of First Instance.
Subsequently, the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in respect of the JR of the EIA Report of the HZMB local projects in September 2011, unanimously allowed the Director of Environmental Protection (DEP)'s appeal. The judgment confirmed the validity of the environmental permits issued by the DEP. Accordingly, the procedures of the major infrastructure projects which were not finished because of the JR could be resumed. Therefore, the above JR case had not impacted too much on the overall design and planning works on the Route 6 projects. The current progress of various projects of Route 6 is as follows.
Upon the gazettal of the CKR project, more than 300 submissions were received and are now being handled in accordance with the statutory procedures. Meanwhile, the Highways Department is formulating the detailed design of the CKR. Subject to the Chief Executive in Council's (CE-in-C) authorisation of the road works of the project, we will seek funding from the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council (LegCo FC) in a timely manner for the works in accordance with the established procedures for public works projects.
Upon the gazettal of the TKO-LTT project, more than 1 400 submissions on the road scheme of the project and more than 300 submissions on the sewerage works of the project were received. The project was authorised by the CE-in-C in April 2014. Detailed design of the TKO-LTT has commenced. We will seek funding from the LegCo FC in a timely manner for the works in accordance with the established procedures for public works projects.
Upon the gazettal of the Trunk Road T2, no objection was received and the project has hence been authorised. Detailed design of the Trunk Road T2 has commenced. We will seek funding from the LegCo FC in a timely manner for the works in accordance with the established procedures for public works projects.
Ends/Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 13:45
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