Hong Kong-mainland rail link terminus ‘a total waste’ without a joint checkpoint, says ex-justice minister
Basic Law Committee vice-chairman Elsie Leung Oi-sie says the whole design of the West Kowloon terminus was based on the checkpoint
Basic Law Committee vice-chairwoman Elsie Leung Oi-sie said the West Kowloon terminus of the HK$84.4 billion cross-border rail link would have to be torn down and redesigned if it did not include joint checkpoint control.
Leung, also Hong Kong’s former justice minister, said the terminus of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link had been specifically designed to accommodate the joint checkpoint.
“[The project] had been approved for a long time and the West Kowloon terminus has also been built based on this concept,” she said during an interview with Commercial Radio on Sunday.
“So, if we don’t have joint checkpoint arrangements at West Kowloon, [the project] would be a total waste. We may have to bomb it and rebuild another one or re-plan the land use. How could you explain to the public the some HK$80 billion [invested in the rail]?”