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THURSDAY, JANUARY 26, 1978
TRANSPORT WHITE PAPER TO BE PUBLISHED LATER THIS YEAR ******
THE DEPUTY SECRETARY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, DR. RICHARD BUTLER, SAID TODAY THE GOVERENT WILL PUBLISH A WHITE PAPER ON TRANSPORT LATER THIS YEAR.
SPEAKING AT A LC.CHEON MEETING OF THE Y'S MEN'S CLUB AT MANDARIN HOTEL, DR. UTLER SAID THE WHITE PAPER WOULD BE UP DATED EVERY FEW YEARS, BUT WOULD NOT CONSTITUTE A DETAILED, ROUTE-BY-ROUTE SET OF TRANSPORT PLANS BECAUSE THESE WOULD LACK THE FLEXIBILITY ESSENTIAL TO MEET HONG KONG'S EVER-CHANGING CONDITIONS.
HE REJECTED THE IDEA OF A LONG-TERM MASTER PLAN FOR TRANSPORT AND SAID THE DAY HONG KONG HAD SUCH A PLAN FOR ANYTHING WAS THE DAY IT CEASED TO BE THE RAPIDLY GROWING, DYNAMIC ECONOMY THAT IT WAS NOW.
DR. BUTLER SAID: +MASTER PLANS, FOR ALL I KNOW, MAY WORK IN TOTALLY PLANNED ECONOMIES AND SOCIETIES, ALTHOUGH I DOUBT IT EVEN THERE. BUT THEY CAN NEVER WORK WHERE INDIVIDUALS ARE ALLOWED TO MAKE THEIR OWN CHOICES AND HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF SUCH CHOICES.+
CONTINGENCY PLANS WERE, OF COURSE, ESSENTIAL FOR HONG KONG'S TRANSPORT SYSTEM AND, INDEED, WE HAD THEM BUT CONTINGENCY PLANS CONCERNED THEMSELVES WITH BROAD STRATEGIES.
THEY HAD BEEN AN ESSENTIAL INPUT TO MAJOR INVESTMENT DECISIONS OF THOUSANDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS CURRENTLY BEING SPENT ON OUR ROADS, OUR MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY, OUR KOWLOON-CANTON RAILWAY AND OUR BUSES, HE SAID.
THE GOVERNMENT HAD MADE PUBLIC ITS BROAD TRANSPORT PLANS IN THE TRANSPORT GREEN PAPER OF 1974 IN WHICH IT WAS INDICATED THAT POLICY RESTED ON A TRIPOD, THE LEGS OF WHICH WERE :-
SAID.
* ADDITIONAL ROAD INVESTMENT-
* IMPROVED PUBLIC TRANSPORT- AND
*
MAKING MORE ECONOMIC USE OF THE ROAD SYSTEM.
+WE HAVE OPENLY PURSUED THIS POLICY FOR YEARS NOW,+ DR. BUTLER
HE POINTED OUT THAT ALL OF HONG KONG'S TRANSPORT, EXCEPT THE TWO RAILWAYS, ARE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND, FOR THIS REASON ALONE, CENTRAL PLANNING WOULD BE +DOOMED FROM THE START+.
+THE BUS COMPANIES MIGHT WELL DISAGREE WITH THE MASTER PLAN'S REQUIREMENTS FOR BUS ORDERING AND REFUSE TO COMPLY.
/+THIS MUST MEAN,