MTR redesign in HK$4.1 billion plan to display relics at rail link

The future To Kwa Wan MTR station will be redesigned to accommodate archaeological finds up to 1,000 years old under the government's latest heritage conservation proposal.

It will cost taxpayers more than HK$4.1 billion and also mean that the Tai Wai to Hung Hom section of the Sha Tin-Central link will be unable to start running by December 2018 as originally scheduled.

Neither government officials nor the MTR Corporation could give a new service timetable when they announced the change yesterday.

Under the new plan, presented at a meeting of the Antiquities Advisory Board, seven archaeological features will be preserved where they lie. They include two square wells, a drainage channel, a stone footpath and building remnants dating back to the Song (960-1279AD) or Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties, as well as a round well built in the 20th century.

Passengers will be able to view these relics in showcase areas in the station. The MTR Corp estimated the conservation of these items would cost HK$4.1 billion.

This includes HK$3.1 billion already spent on the extended archaeological excavation and protective works for the relics carried out since late last year, and HK$1 billion to be spent on future work.