The Government is considering three trunk-road options for the Wan Chai Development Phase II, estimated to cost between $7.8 billion and $9.2 billion. This project will enable traffic to bypass the heavily congested urban area and form an east-west strategic route through Central and Wan Chai. Of the three proposed plans, the Hong Kong Island & Islands Development Office of the Territory Development Department (TDD) favours option A, which involves a tunnel and flyover in which the western and central sections would be in a tunnel. The road would rise at the Wan Chai public cargo working area to cross Kellett Island and would remain on an elevated structure behind the typhoon shelter, before connecting to the existing elevated structure of the Island Eastern Corridor. TDD director James Wong Hung-kin said: 'We are recommending option A as it has the least reclamation area and will have the least impact on the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club.' The TDD will be in charge of the reclamation, while the Highways Department will be responsible for the trunk roads construction. Mr Wong said that the department had also put forward two other options, D and G, which, compared with option A, would have a greater impact on the yacht club and would also involve more reclamation. Option D involves construction of a tunnel and flyover, which would rise on to an elevated structure to the east of the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre extension and run north of Kellett Island to follow the line of the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter breakwater. The proposal, which includes a high level long-span bridge over the typhoon shelter, assumes that the bridge, being highly visible, would have an elegant design to make it an attractive feature of the waterfront in its own right. Option G involves construction of a road which would run on reclaimed land after emerging from a tunnel at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre extension, rising at the eastern end to connect to the Island Eastern Corridor. This option requires the reclamation of a substantial portion of the typhoon shelter, which would need to be repositioned further out into the harbour. Option A is estimated to cost $8.5 billion, option D $9.2 billion and option G $7.8 billion. The three options were chosen from eight proposals. The project's first public consultation with professionals, institutes and Legislative Councillors was carried out recently. This month meetings will be held with district board members and the Legco Land and Works panel. The two-month consultation will take into account public opinion to refine the proposal. Maunsell Consultants Asia is doing the feasibility study on phases one and two of the Wan Chai Development. Phase one involves choosing the preferred option and road alignment while phase two will involve detailed assessment, including environmental, traffic impact and economical impact studies. After the conclusion of these studies, funding for the projects will be sought and the preliminary design work will be carried out by the end of next year. Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club general manager Robert Bird, who attended the first consultation, said the club had proposed inclusion of a permanent international dragon-boat course, a maritime museum telling the story of Hong Kong as a fishing port, shops, restaurants, promenades and walkways. The Government had rejected the proposal for a dragon-boat course. INFRASTRUCTURE
