14
REVIEW
This was nearly three times the normal amount for any September and was, in fact, the second highest rainfall on record for this month. For many years the need for a direct traffic link between Hong Kong Island and the mainland has been argued. The main question was whether to go over or under the harbour-to build a bridge or a tunnel. This question was answered during 1965 when a resolution was introduced into the Legislative Council to approve the grant of an exclusive franchise to the Victoria City Development Company to build a four-lane cross-harbour tunnel between Wan Chai and Hung Hom within five years. The government had announced in 1963 that it was prepared to enter into negotiations with the com- pany for a franchise provided that the company made a decision by 31st March, 1964, to proceed. Before this deadline the company submitted a scheme for a two-lane tunnel but, when this was shown to be inadequate, agreed to a new plan for a four-lane tunnel.
In moving the resolution the Director of Public Works recalled that the first recorded proposal for a cross-harbour tunnel was made in 1902. In 1961, he said, the Victoria City Development Company had submitted very full reports and traffic analyses and after examining these at great length the government had come to the conclusion that while a bridge was unacceptable there was no objection to a tunnel. At the same time, he said, the question as to whether the scheme should be put to tender or not was considered. For seven years the government offer to consider such schemes had been open and no other scheme had been taken to a stage where there were any sponsors prepared to undertake it. Under these circumstances, with the advice of Executive Council, it had been decided in 1963 that the scheme should not be put to tender but that the government should be prepared to negotiate a franchise with the Victoria City Development Company. He said that the Public Works Department, in collaboration with the Victoria City Development Company and its consultants, had designed a com- prehensive system of high capacity roads incorporating not only connexions to the tunnel but also great increases in the capacities of road links between east and west, north and south, on both Hong Kong Island and the mainland. In a memorandum the Advisory Committee on Public Transport stated that the tunnel 'should bring considerable overall benefits to the Colony's public transport system." The Legislative Council approved the resolution, with one member