No benefit in selling the third runway on its economic benefit

The third runway - with a cost of HK$136.2 billion, factoring in inflation - would be the city's most expensive single project but the Airport Authority said yesterday it would bring eight times as much in economic benefits over the next 50 years.

SCMP, June 3

Only eight times as much in economic benefits? I figure I can get us 12 times as much with my favourite infrastructure project and it would also be more environmentally friendly.

My favourite project is to build three separate tunnels from the southern tip of Lamma Island all the way to Antarctica (it doesn't matter if they ever get finished) and to do it all with hand tools. Just think of the number of jobs this would create.

To make it environmentally friendly, we shall also revive Hong Kong's shipbuilding industry to build (with hand tools) a number of vessels that will then carry the excavated rock from these tunnels to Antarctica and dump it there. That would constitute yet more job creation.

Oh yes, I forgot. We can't give these vessels fossil-fuel-burning engines. That would be environmentally unfriendly. We shall have to make them sailing ships. That should also please the local maritime lobby. There will be lots of employment for sailors in sailing ships. No, I'm not being silly. The only silly thing here is the economic benefit argument for building a new airport runway.

The idea behind economic benefit is that for every dollar you spend you get a ripple effect of many times that dollar throughout the economy. Thus if I spend HK$10 on an ice cream cone, the ice cream vendor will in turn split that money between paying his rent, ordering more ice cream from his supplier and buying some rice for his dinner.