Hong Kong economy’s revival under threat from major delays to rail projects, experts warn
- Delays cost the city ‘way over HK$100 billion’ in lost economic gains as experts say infrastructure investment is best way to rejuvenate post-pandemic economy
- Only two of seven projects from government’s 2014 blueprint are progressing, pushing back completions by years
Lengthy delays to Hong Kong’s railway projects are holding back the revival of the city’s battered economy and chalking up foregone losses worth more than HK$100 billion (US$13 billion), rail experts have warned.
Urging the government to speed up, they said it was not good enough that work had begun on only two out of seven projects from its 2014 blueprint, and both now had much later completion dates than originally scheduled.
Henry Cheung Nin-sang, chairman of the Association of Hong Kong Railway Transport Professionals, also said the best way to rejuvenate the Hong Kong economy, which had been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, was to loosen public purse strings on infrastructure projects.
The city is already lagging behind in regional railway development, and experts expressed concern that the situation had resulted in brain drain of railway professionals in recent years.
“We are very unhappy with this prolonged delay. It is unacceptable,” said Henry Cheung, of the association whose 180 members include rail engineers and operation managers.
“Six years have gone by, but the government has rolled out only two projects recently. Their completion dates have also been pushed back by at least five or six years.”
The 2014 Railway Development Strategy set out the government’s plans for up to 2031, outlining seven rail projects based on projections of transport demand, cost-effectiveness and the needs of new developments in various districts.
They are the Northern Link and Kwu Tung station, Tuen Mun South extension, East Kowloon line, Tung Chung line extension, Hung Shui Kiu station, South Island line (West), and North Island line.