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Following is the speech by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Henry Tang, at the New Civil Aviation Department Headquarters Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony in Tung Chung this afternoon (November 27):
Eva (Cheng)(Secretary for Transport and Housing), Norman (Lo)(Director-General of Civil Aviation), Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Good afternoon.
I am delighted to join you for the Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony of the new Civil Aviation Department (CAD) Headquarters.
The Government's $2 billion investment in this project is both timely and significant for the development of aviation in Hong Kong.
The new headquarters will provide much-needed space for the replacement of the existing air traffic control system. This new system, costing some $1.6 billion, will enable us to meet our pledge of increasing our runway capacity gradually to 68 movements per hour by 2015. This will be critical to maintaining our competitiveness as an international and regional aviation hub.
This new CAD headquarters will also bring all functional divisions of this department under one roof on the Airport Island. This will foster closer co-operation and enhance greater efficiency both within our department and the aviation industry as a whole. It will also underpin the department's close liaison with the aeronautical authorities of the Mainland and Macao in improving airspace management in the Pearl River Delta region.
The Government's investment in this project complements other developments that are helping to strengthen Hong Kong's aviation hub status. These include the expanded DHL Central Asia Hub which was launched last September, and Hangar 3 of the Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company that opened two months ago.
The Airport Authority is also proactive in upgrading airport infrastructure to cope with increasing air traffic demand. The North Satellite Concourse will open next month, with 10 additional bridge-served stands to accommodate narrow-bodied aircraft. The Authority will also carry out a midfield expansion project to provide additional aircraft stands, apron facilities and a new passenger concourse. Upon completion of this project, our airport will be able to handle 70 million passengers and 6 million tonnes of cargo each year, meeting anticipated air traffic demand up to 2020.
Also with an eye to the future, a feasibility study on a new runway will be completed next year.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are exciting times for our aviation industry. I am delighted to share this historic moment with you today and I wish the Civil Aviation Department every success with the new headquarters project.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Friday, November 27, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:44
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