THE AIRPORT CORE PROGRAMME
288
The ACP provides many opportunities for private sector participation. Besides the franchise for the Western Harbour Crossing, these include a range of important commercial franchises at the airport, plus commercial lending and real estate development associated with the airport and the airport railway.
Benefits for the Community
The main benefits for the community, in addition to the airport itself, will come from improved road and rail facilities, which will ease congestion in West Kowloon and open up North Lantau. The closure of Kai Tak will also provide substantial environmental benefits for the 350 000 residents living under its flight paths, who will escape the noise of aircraft. The overall benefits to Hong Kong's economy will also be substantial.
The government's proposed financial investment in the projects will yield substantial benefits for taxpayers. It is estimated that by the year 2020, the new airport, the Lantau Fixed Crossing and the airport railway will generate over $300 billion in additional revenue for the government.
The Airport at Chek Lap Kok
Good progress was made during the year in the planning and construction of the new airport at Chek Lap Kok. With site formation nearing completion and contracts covering the passenger terminal building, airport infrastructure, utilities and ancillary facilities well into --the tendering phase, the PAA is on schedule to enter its most intensive construction phase in
1995.
The PAA, a statutory organisation formed in April 1990 with the Hong Kong Government as its sole shareholder, is engaged in planning, developing and building an airport that will be operationally safe and efficient, environmentally sound and commercially viable.
Operationally, the new airport will expand on the quality and range of aviation services available at the existing airport at Kai Tak. At the same time, it will set new standards in terms of commercial operations and expand the role Hong Kong plays as the region's leading air transportation centre.
Because of its location off the north coast of Lantau Island, 25 kilometres west of Hong Kong's central business district, the new airport will be capable of round-the-clock opera- tions without causing noise problems for urban areas.
The new airport at opening, with the first of two runways, will be capable of handling 35 million passengers and three million tonnes of air cargo annually. Airport facilities are being designed so that they can be expanded in stages to cater for forecast growth, in both passenger and air cargo throughput, to 87 million passengers and nine million tonnes of cargo by the year 2040.
At the end of 1994, 17 contracts, with a total value of $13.5 billion, had been awarded out of a total of about 80 construction and equipment contracts planned by the PAA for the new airport.
Site Preparation
The $9 billion site preparation contract, the largest contract of the ACP, began in December 1992 and covers a 41-month period. By the year's end, about 1 000 hectares, representing