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16
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31.
But first let me first clear the air on question
There is nothing magic
of the timetable for construction.
about the 1997 target date for building the airport and it
has no political significance.
The view that the airport
must be built in the period of the British administration
forms no part of this Government's thinking. Two factors
to the target date, first we needed to build the
airport as soon as practicable bearing in mind the growing
congestion at Kai Tak, secondly our best advice at the
time was that seven years was the shortest period
necessary for completion of the core projects. That
brought us to 1997.
32.
Let me explain what I mean by the core projects.
These are the projects which are essential to the opening
of the airport by the target date. They include one
runway of the Chek Lap Kok Airport, the North Lantau
Expressway, the Lantau Fixed Crossing, and the West
Kowloon Expressway. The first runway at Chek Lap Kok
operating 24 hours a day, and without the constraint of
the curfew at Kai Tak, would provide ample capacity to
meet air traffic demand by the mid-1990s. It follows that
the completion date for the second runway is flexible. As
the Secretary for Transport has explained, while the
design of the Lantau Fixed Crossing and the Expressways
will provide for development of the Airport Railway, we do
not need to make a decision on the timing of that railway
for a few months. The further development of the Port on
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