Government opens tender for study on Hong Kong tunnel tolls
Review to involve city’s three harbour crossings, another three Sha Tin tunnels amid calls for lower fees to ease congestion
The government has kicked off a tender process for an overall toll adjustment study of the city’s three harbour crossings and another three Sha Tin tunnels amid growing concern over congestion at the main crossing.
The move came amid calls for lower tolls at the Eastern Harbour Tunnel which was taken over by the government early this month.
A government adviser on transport matters also jumped into the fray, calling for the fees of the three crossings to be aligned to ease traffic congestion at the overcrowded Hung Hom Tunnel.
The Transport Department on August 1 called for expressions of interest from consultancy firms to submit tenders before August 26 for the toll rationalisation study scheduled to commence next January. The study is expected to be completed within the 2017/18 legislative year, and a government proposal for the tunnels’ overall toll adjustments will be submitted to the Legislative Council’s transport panel for discussions.
A department spokeswoman added that three tunnels linking Kowloon and Sha Tin such as the Lion Rock Tunnel, Tate’s Cairn Tunnel, and the Eagle’s Nest and Sha Tin Heights Tunnel will also be included in the study. She said: “The study will examine how to effectively rationalise the traffic flow at the tunnels concerned.”
Transport Advisory Committee member and Hong Kong Automobile Association honorary life president Wesley Wan Wai-hei said adjusting the tolls of the three cross-harbour tunnels to the same levels would make sense and help resolve congestion.
However, transport chief Anthony Cheung Bing-leung has already ruled out any immediate toll adjustments, saying the authorities would wait for the outcome of the study before mapping out the road ahead.
