12 July 1989
一九八九年七月十二日
110
HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
香港立法局
towns and the urban centres, and providing additional harbour crossings and cross border links. With the completion of the Eastern Harbour Crossing, Kwun Tong By-pass, the Tate's Cairn Tunnel, Route 5 and the widening of Tai Po Road, the north-south transport links in the eastern part of the territory will be well-established by the early 1990s.
Neither have we forgotten the importance of improving conditions of our local and distributor roads. Improvements in the form of flyovers and road widening schemes at a total cost of over $3 billion have been proposed. This is an on-going commitment.
As regards the railways, these have attracted considerable interest. Whether the northwest urban link will be ending in Yuen Long or Tuen Mun will be one of the subjects of a territorial rail strategy study to be commissioned towards the end of this year. This would take into account fully their respective engineering feasibility and financial and economic viability.
As regards the suggestion of a dedicated rail link to serve the future airport, the feasibility of such a link is now being examined by the Port and Airport Development Studies.
Sir, the importance of effective co-ordination of public transport services is fully accepted. Not only would unfettered competition add to road congestion in areas of high demand, but the resultant wasteful use of resources is liable to start a vicious circle leading eventually to higher fares on all modes, fewer choices and inadequate services for the less populated areas. District boards have called for flexible application of the co-ordination policy to allow adjustments to changing demands. This is in fact the current practice. To cope with the Mass Transit Railway congestion problems during the peak hours, for example, bus services have been introduced along the Nathan Road Corridor to give an alternative for Mass Transit Railway commuters.
There is, however, a practical limit to how far we can go. One important constraint is the shortage of bus terminus facilities in the urban centres.
On rail services, the purpose of establishing the rail corporation is to provide flexible organization structures which could operate on a potent commercial basis, capable of responding flexibly and speedily to the changes in market demand to meet the full range of services expected of a modern railway. Government is now reviewing this relationship with the corporation, and will take fully into account all views and suggestions including the operation of