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Enter the MTR
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HONG KONG has marked its entry into the 1980s with a significant new achievement: after 10 years of investigation, design and construction, a mass transit railway is now in operation linking major urban centres in Kowloon with Hong Kong Island. An extension of the system to the growing industrial town of Tsuen Wan in the New Territories is now under way and, when this is completed in two years' time, it is expected that passenger movement will be of the order of 1.8 million journeys daily.
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The railway now in use known as the modified initial system (MIS) – has cost $5,800 million. The extension will cost a further $4,100 million.
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The Hong Kong Government - which owns the Mass Transit Railway Corporation provided the initial equity capital of $800 million. It also accepted further equity of about $350 million in exchange mainly for certain land premia. The rest of the finance was raised by the corporation in Hong Kong and overseas, with the government usually providing a guarantee.
Civil engineering expertise has come from many countries, the work spread in value terms being: Hong Kong 30 per cent; Japan 29 per cent; Britain 25 per cent; Germany six per cent, France five per cent; Sweden three per cent; and the United States two per cent. On the Tsuen Wan extension, the majority of contracts have been awarded to Japanese civil engineering firms, with France also increasing its participation. Similarly, much electrical and mechanical engineering expertise from abroad has been harnessed in respect of both the MIS and the Tsuen Wan extension, with the larger share of these contracts being placed in Britain.
When the first stage of the MIS opened, it became immediately apparent that it was going to prove a popular form of transport with the public, the great advantage being the frequency and reliability of travel in its air-conditioned carriages.
The construction of the railway is not only Hong Kong's largest-ever engineering project; it is also one of the most challenging and largest in the world. It has been a major undertaking in other ways too - notably in terms of alleviating and coping with the inevitable disruption it has caused, in varying degrees, to virtually all members of the population. Every effort has been made to minimise this, but there have been years of noise, dirt and inconvenience, with not a few people having to move homes or businesses to make way for the railway.
The government and the MTR Corporation made every effort to help and advise every- one affected by the railway's construction, particularly those whose homes had to be acquired to facilitate works and whose businesses were adversely affected. In addition to printed and other media publicity, officers of the Home Affairs, Housing and Labour Departments, the New Territories Administration and the Mass Transit Office of the Public Works Department were always at hand to ensure that people were aware of their