AIRPORT
236
by 1997 and 200 000 by 2011. In addition to providing support services for the new airport, it will accommodate commercial and industrial developments and will serve as an impressive gateway to Hong Kong for visitors. There will be a mixture of private, public rental, and home ownership scheme housing, several shopping centres, an office and hotel complex in the town centre, and a peripheral 52-hectare industrial park. Extensive landscaping has been designed to shield the town from the airport to the north-west and to provide generous recreational areas, supplemented by the hilly backdrop of Lantau Country Park to the south. Strong emphasis has been placed on community facilities and both local and long-distance rail and bus transport.
The Airport at Chek Lap Kok
Detailed planning of the airport at Chek Lap Kok progressed rapidly in 1992. The Provisional Airport Authority, a statutory corporation set up in April 1990 with the Hong Kong Government as its sole shareholder, is planning an airport which will be operationally safe and efficient, environmentally friendly, and commercially viable.
Scheduled to open in 1997 with the first of two planned runways on a 1248-hectare island site, the airport will have an immediate annual capacity of 35 million passengers and 1.5 million tonnes of cargo. There is provision for this to expand incrementally to 87 million passengers and 9.0 million tonnes of cargo by the year 2040. Because of its location off North Lantau, the airport will be able to operate round-the-clock without causing noise problems for Hong Kong residents.
In the first quarter of 1992, the authority completed the airport's master plan, and a draft financial plan was agreed with the government. The master plan sets out com- prehensive planning and design criteria for the formation of the airport island and facilities, providing for a phased development into a two-runway airport.
A commercial plan was also drawn up. It aims to enhance the airport's financial viability and operational efficiency by maximising private sector participation. The authority's commercial strategy is aimed at providing quality through competition where practicable, while deriving market-based licence fees. Airport-related commercial activities on the island will cover about 100 hectares of land and will include hotels, offices, and other business activities.
After completion of the master plan, detailed design work has continued. International bids were invited by the authority, and a contract was awarded, for the design of the passenger terminal and concourse complex.
The terminal will occupy an area of over 430 000 square metres and will be 1.4 kilometres in length (equal to the distance from the City Hall in Central across the harbour to the Hong Kong Space Museum). It is being designed as a single, long and sweeping structure with glass cladding.
International tenders were invited during the year for the site preparation contract, which involves reclaiming land and constructing the airport island platform. An international consortium was selected from the tenderers in July, after the design of the platform had been modified with realignment of the southern runway and terminal building at a cost saving of $150 million. The government obtained Finance Committee approval at the end of November for funds to allow the authority to award this contract. This decision enabled the government to take an important step forward on the ACP, and afforded more time to seek an agreement with China on the overall financing plan.