HK$624 billion Lantau reclamation project will cause traffic chaos in rest of Hong Kong, warns transport expert
- Ronald Taylor says lack of link between man-made islands and Kowloon could cause misery for commuters
- Government study predicts up to 1.1 million people could flood into city on daily basis from new metropolis
People living on Hong Kong Island could face rush-hour gridlock if a planned cluster of man-made islands to the west does not connect directly to Kowloon, a concern group has warned.
The Save Lantau Alliance, a pressure group opposed to the government project dubbed “Lantau Tomorrow Vision”, issued the warning on Monday as lawmakers prepared to continue vetting a funding request for studies for the reclamation scheme on Wednesday.
Ronald Taylor, an infrastructure and transport expert, pointed to the fact that there was no link to connect the future man-made islands to Kowloon.
“Residents on the new islands will [have to] travel to Kowloon via the [Western Harbour Crossing] on Hong Kong Island,” he said, adding that would create a bottleneck at Connaught Road West, a major road on western Hong Kong Island leading to the entrance to the cross-harbour tunnel.
Taylor also cited a 1992 feasibility study that found the transport system in Kennedy Town could only cope with the traffic flow brought by an additional two double-lane roads, not the three envisaged in the Lantau Tomorrow Vision scheme.
The group said an estimated 1.1 million inhabitants of the new reclaimed islands are likely to use the planned tunnel and road network to Hong Kong Island as their main gateway to Kowloon, making their daily commute and that of residents in areas such as Kennedy Town and Sai Ying Pun a constant nightmare as congestion problems worsen.