Hong Kong authorities to prioritise Tseung Kwan O rail line’s extension over other mega projects, but no timeline yet for new plans’ completion
- Authorities will launch a public consultation exercise in two months before getting a better idea of estimated budgets and project timelines
- Chief Executive John Lee proposed three major roads and three railway projects to better link the city and reduce heavy traffic in some areas
The Hong Kong government will prioritise the construction of the Tseung Kwan O rail line extension over the other five major infrastructure projects floated in the city leader’s policy blueprint.
But Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung, who revealed the priorities on Monday, said authorities did not have any timeline for when these mega projects would be completed for now.
“We would like to see what residents think about those projects, because they know what is really needed, especially if they live nearby the new infrastructure sites,” said Lam, adding that a relevant public consultation exercise would be launched by December.
“We will consolidate all the comments and release a blueprint by the end of next year revealing the routes and preliminary estimated budgets on each project, but we don’t have a timetable now.”
In his maiden policy address last week, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu proposed three railway projects and building three major roads to better link different corners of the city, as well as reduce heavy traffic in certain areas.
The three railway schemes are the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Rail Link, a new Central Rail Link to connect Kam Tin in Yuen Long with Kowloon Tong via Kwai Chung, and an extension of the Tseung Kwan O line southwards to TKO Area 137, which is expected to provide 50,000 flats with the first population intake in 2030 at the earliest.
The road projects are the Northern Metropolis Highway to link Tin Shui Wai and Kwu Tung North, the Sha Tin Bypass connecting Tai Po and Kowloon West, and a third tunnel between Tseung Kwan O and Yau Tong.
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Lam said he hoped to kick off the TKO line Southern Extension project as soon as possible to facilitate the development of the new residential area, adding that authorities would look into where the construction industry’s manpower resources stood with the Development Bureau, as the city also had other infrastructure needs.
The government would also examine whether there would be transport bottlenecks in other areas in the long run, he added.
However, Gary Zhang Xinyu, deputy chairman of the Legislative Council’s subcommittee on railway affairs, said he was not optimistic the Tseung Kwan O rail extension would be completed by 2030 because further reclamation in the area might be required. He argued that authorities should instead kick-start the new Central Rail Link as soon as possible.
Zhang warned that the Northern Link – which will connect Kam Sheung Road station on the Tuen Ma line with the East Rail line’s Kwu Tung station to be commissioned in 2027 – must be supplemented with the construction of the central link. Without that, Kam Sheung Road station would be overloaded.
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“Utilising the capacity of the Tuen Ma line will not be enough by then. We can foresee people in the Northern Metropolis needing to travel more to Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, and there will be greater frequent transport needs,” he said.
He was referring to the government’s ambitious plan to transform 30,000 hectares of rural area covering Yuen Long and North district near the border into an economic and residential hub, housing up to 2.5 million people in the next two decades.
Zhang said Kowloon Tong station, despite being a busy transition hub for the East Rail line and Kwun Tong line, still had the potential to be expanded because of the low development density in the area.
