Harbour committee demands toll measures be tried before building new link
Members of the Harbour-front Enhancement Committee yesterday challenged the rationale of building the Central-Wan Chai bypass.
Alvin Kwok Ngai-kuen, a director of the Conservancy Association, asked officials at a committee meeting about an unpublished report in which academics claim increasing Cross-Harbour Tunnel tolls during peak hours would ease congestion, meaning harbour reclamation or a fourth tunnel would be unnecessary.
The report has been presented at academic conferences in Hong Kong, London and Vancouver and submitted to the government but not released to the public.
Roger Nissim, from the Business Environment Council, told the meeting the government should try equalising tunnel tolls before jumping to the conclusion that a highway had to be built along the waterfront to ease congestion.
He warned that the bypass, which would involve harbour reclamation, would face a judicial review if the government failed to demonstrate it had exhausted all other means of reducing congestion.
Professional Property Services chairman Nicholas Brooke described as 'vulnerable' any decision to build the bypass without testing whether the traffic problems could be solved by manipulating tolls.