The Kai Tak river, which is to emerge from a nullah that is polluted at present and become the area's key feature, may not be clean enough for water activities.
A government spokesman said the nullah would be cleared by 2016 and transformed into a 'beautiful river' for people to walk along and a central feature of the HK$100 billion redevelopment of the airport site.
'But the E. coli concentration in water may not satisfy the environmental standards for such [water-based] activities,' he said.
A chemical solution was to be injected into sediment in the nullah to eliminate odour and a 600-metre-wide opening built in the former runway to allow water to flow through to the harbour. The nullah was polluted by airport operations and urban water run-off from Kowloon. The river opening would be covered by a deck supporting a park.
Polluted water from the hinterland would also be intercepted before it entered the river. The spokesman said the river's water quality would be 'similar to other parts of Victoria Harbour'. A new 1km waterway would be built to connect upstream areas of the nullah in Wong Tai Sin to the new river.
Meanwhile, archaeological excavation of the Longjin bridge, a 130-year-old stone pier adjacent to the former Kowloon Walled City, has almost been completed. The 270-metre-long relic will be preserved on its original site.