The planned rail link between the Hong Kong and Shenzhen airports would cost Hong Kong more than HK$50 billion, according to a government-commissioned study.
The study found that it would be expensive to build the 50-kilometre cross-border link because most of the Hong Kong section would have to be built underground and include a seven-kilometre cross-harbour tunnel between the airport and Tuen Mun. Completed by the MTR Corporation at the end of last year, the study has not been publicly disclosed.
News of the possible high cost of building the rail link between the two airports comes as transport officials are striving to keep the cost of the Hong Kong section of another cross-border rail link, the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, below HK$50 billion after it ballooned beyond the original estimate of HK$39.5 billion.
If the Hong Kong and Shenzhen authorities do eventually decide to build the railway, the Hong Kong government will have to fork out more than HK$100 billion in the next few years to build the two cross-border rail links. Recurrent government spending for 2009-10 is estimated to be HK$214.6 billion.
The length of the Hong Kong section of the line would be about 25 kilometres, including a nine-kilometre spur line connecting to Hung Shui Kiu, Yuen Long, while the Shenzhen section would be 25 kilometres long. Based on the estimate in the MTR Corp's study, which was commissioned by the Highways Department, it would cost more than HK$2 billion per kilometre.
A person familiar with the findings of the MTR Corp's study said the estimate was based on the assumption that the line would be built by the rail operator.
