Contract signed for reconstruction and improvement of Tuen Mun Road - Sam Shing Hui Section
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     The Highways Department today (June 30) signed a $1,366 million contract with China Harbour Engineering Company Limited for the reconstruction and improvement of a 4.7-kilometre-long section of Tuen Mun Road from Siu Lam to Sam Shing Hui (Sam Shing Hui section).

     The contract is to reconstruct and improve the Sam Shing Hui section of Tuen Mun Road to current expressway standard.  The works include widening of traffic lanes, provision of hard shoulders and verges, construction of highway structures, and the associated environmental mitigation measures, drainage works, slope works and landscaping works.

     The Director of Highways, Mr Wai Chi-sing, said at the contract signing ceremony that the reconstruction and improvement for the entire expressway section of Tuen Mun Road, which is a 15.5-kilometre-long dual three-lane expressway linking Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun, would be implemented under three works contracts.  The first two contracts began construction in October last year and February this year, covering the section between Tsuen Wan and Tai Lam.  The contract for the Sam Shing Hui section signed today is the third and the last contract.  Upon completion of the whole project in 2014, Tuen Mun Road will be an up-to-standard expressway linking Tsuen Wan and Tuen Mun.  The three contracts will together create more than 2,000 jobs, which will help improve the current employment situation.

     Mr Wai added that widening of the Tuen Mun Road Town Centre section between Yan Oi Town Square and Wong Chu Road from a dual two-lane to a dual three-lane carriageway would also start by the end of this year at the earliest.

     "The Highways Department is committed to providing the public with an efficient road and rail network.  We have been actively pushing ahead several large-scale infrastructure projects.  This year, apart from the Tuen Mun Road project, we will also launch a number of other roadworks and railway projects, including the widening of Tolo Highway from Island House Interchange to Fanling, the Central-Wanchai Bypass, the West Island Line and the Hong Kong section of Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link.  Implementation of these projects will create tens of thousands of jobs," Mr Wai said.

Ends/Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Issued at HKT 11:46

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