A $400 million road tunnel linking Discovery Bay with the North Lantau Expressway was gazetted yesterday.
The project is part of a $6 billion investment planned by Hong Kong Resort Company over the next three years.
It includes a project that would provide 2,230 flats in Discovery Bay and commercial and residential development at Tung Chung station.
The scheme will join Discovery Bay and Cheung Tung Road, Siu Ho Wan, near the North Lantau Highway, offering a land alternative to the ferry services.
It would serve as a contingency route to the new airport in times of emergency, a government spokesman said.
When completed in early 2000, the new connection will allow residents to take buses to Tung Chung MTR station and a 23-minute trip on the new Lantau railway to Kowloon and Central.