AIRPORT
Work on the contract, which involves moving 331 million cubic metres of material, started in December. On average, eight million cubic metres of material – equivalent to eight times the volume of the Bank of China building in Central Hong Kong - will need to be moved every month for 41 months. The islands of Chek Lap Kok and Lam Chau will be levelled, and the excavated materials will be used for the reclamation, along with marine sand and other fill material. In advance of this contract, 38 hectares of land were formed at Chek Lap Kok under an Advance Works Contract.
The authority also invited expressions of interest during 1992 for a wide range of construction activities and commercial franchises, including infrastructure design, air cargo handling, aircraft maintenance and engineering, catering, and aviation fuel supply.
As an organisation, the authority developed into a recognised corporate entity. Between March 1991 and the end of 1992, it grew from a staff of one (the chief executive officer) to well over 400, with most key positions filled.
New Transport Facilities
The ACP includes five major highway projects designed to cater for the new airport's traffic and to relieve congestion on existing roads. They comprise the Western Harbour Crossing, West Kowloon Expressway, Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi sections of Route 3, the Lantau Fixed Crossing, and the North Lantau Expressway.
Together-with the Airport Railway, they will also provide rapid transit between Tung Chung New Town and Central, so stimulating developments on north Lantau in the same way that the Kowloon Canton Railway triggered development in the eastern New Territories when it was double-tracked and electrified.
Congestion will be relieved in West Kowloon, Kwai Chung and Tsing Yi: for example, when the West Kowloon Expressway opens, peak hour traffic volume on the existing West Kowloon Corridor is projected to drop by as much as 40 per cent.
New Highways
The Western Harbour Crossing has been planned as a dual three-lane immersed tube road tunnel linking the West Kowloon Reclamation to the Western District of Hong Kong Island. In addition to providing a key part of the airport highway route, it is also intended to relieve congestion at the two existing cross harbour tunnels. Like these two tunnels, it is intended to be financed, constructed and operated by the private sector under a 30-year franchise. Private sector bids were invited in 1992, and the government subsequently negotiated with a consortium which submitted the single conforming bid. Construction is planned to start in mid-1993, for completion in mid-1997.
The project comprises a two kilometre tunnel, associated approach roads, a major road interchange on Hong Kong Island and a toll plaza. The tunnel will link the new West Kowloon Expressway with a new section of elevated road on Hong Kong Island connecting with Connaught Road Central.
The West Kowloon Expressway will link the northern portal of the Western Harbour Crossing to Lai Chi Kok, forming an important part of Route 3, with a dual three-lane carriageway. It will serve developments on the West Kowloon Reclamation and will also substantially relieve existing local and distributor roads in central and west Kowloon. A further section of Route 3 will connect Kwai Chung with the Lantau Fixed Crossing through Tsing Yi, with a dual four-lane viaduct in Kwai Chung.
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