Cross-Harbour Links
At present Hong Kong is served by two ferry companies which between them
carry more than half a million passengers daily. The larger company (Hong Kong
and Yaumati Ferry Co.) extends its service to cover the outlying districts
and islands, and in 1978 opened a hover ferry service between Hong Kong
and Whampoa (near Canton)..
Hong Kong also has two road tunnels, one between Kowloon and the New Territories
and one cross-harbour tunnel which operates at capacity for certain parts of the
Aay. Two more tunnels are to open soon, one under the airport runway (linking
south and north-east Kowloon) and one between the north and south sides of the
island.
Hong Kong Kowloon Link.
The severe overloading of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel during much of the day has
moved the Hong Kong Government to order a study into various alternatives for
improving the links between Hong Kong Island and Knowloon. The study was
recently awarded, against strong competition, to UK consultants Mott Hay and
Anderson together with the US firm of Wilbur Smith and Assoc. The Department
has agreed to lend a specialist engineer to the consultants for the study:
there is some evidence that this influenced the award of the study.
Options to be studied include new bridges, an increase in cross harbour
ferry services, a new tunnel or increasing the capacity of the existing tunnel.
The report is not due for some time.
Lantao/Mainland Fixed Crossing
!
The Hong Kong Government has announced plans for the development of northern
Lantao as an industrial area and the possible site of a new airport. A new road
link with the mainland is central to these plans and a consortium of British
consultants with branch offices in Hong Kong - the Engineering Consultants Group of
Hong Kong - led by Mott, Hay and Anderson was commissioned last year to report on