The budget this year for the KCRC's Western Corridor Railway will double to $1.5 billion, legislators heard yesterday.
However, this figure was based on completion in 2001. As that target had been delayed over problems in resumption of land, the budget for 1996 would be reviewed, a Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) spokesman said.
The budget originally included 20 consultancy contracts worth $750 million on technical and other internal studies, she said.
Some $139 million of the budget had been spent on internal studies during the first four months of this year, she said.
Eric Li Ka-cheung said that had legislators not objected, all the money would have been spent.
'The figures provided were very ambiguous,' he said.
The KCRC has said it will discuss the new timetable for construction and will only award some contracts to study the alignment of the railway at this stage.
