Beijing will help sort out air traffic crunch from Hong Kong's planned third runway, chief executive says
China will help resolve the problem of congested regional airspace to ensure the success of a HK$142 billion third runway at Hong Kong International Airport, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said.
China's central government will help resolve the issue of congested regional airspace to ensure the success of a third runway at Hong Kong International Airport, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said yesterday.
Aviation experts have cast doubts on whether a three-runway system at Chek Lap Kok airport could handle 102 flights an hour, compared with the current 68, an increase that would require Shenzhen to cede some of its airspace to Hong Kong.
However, Leung said the HK$142 billion third runway was not only crucial for the city's development as an aviation hub but also important to the mainland.
"The central government supports the airport development of Hong Kong … I am confident that the airspace problem could be resolved via coordination with mainland departments," Leung said ahead of an Executive Council meeting yesterday, where student groups gathered to protest against the multibillion-dollar project.
Leung said that the public should first support the project, and that technical problems could be solved later. He warned that the city should waste no time debating the third runway as it would be too late if the project was built only after all technical problems - including the airspace issue - were solved.
But critics are demanding the government release details of the deal that are being kept secret because of their "sensitive" content to show how the airspace issue would be solved.
Airport Authority chief executive Fred Lam Tin-fuk said in a radio appearance yesterday that the city's aviation officials and their mainland counterparts had conducted a simulation study based on a 2007 directional plan, which he said was "technically feasible".
An agreement was signed among Hong Kong, the mainland and Macau in 2007 to set forth objectives for resolving airspace issues in the region up to 2020, Lam said.
He said people should trust the Hong Kong and central governments to solve the problem.
Yesterday, Lam told a Legislative Council panel that it would cost an additional HK$7 billion for each year the third runway project was delayed.
He said the project would be funded through three channels: some HK$53 billion (38 per cent) would come from loans; HK$47 billion (33 per cent) would be from halting dividend payments to the government for 10 years; and the remaining 29 per cent (HK$42 billion) would be from a HK$180 "airport construction fee" levied on each passenger.
