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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1986
IT WOULD REVIEW THE CURRENT PRIORITY OF TRANSPORT ITEMS IN THE PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMME TO ENSURE THAT THE BEST VALUE WAS OBTAINED FROM THE PROPOSED INVESTMENT, MR LAN SAID.
IT WOULD ALSO EXAMINE WHAT ADDITIONAL MAJOR TRUNK ROADS WOULD BE REQUIRED TO MEET DEMAND UP TO THE YEAR 2001.
AMONG THE PROJECTS CONSIDERED WILL BE A NEW HIGHWAY CONNECTING THE NORTHWEST NEW TERRITORIES AND KWAI CHUNG SOUTH, THE WEST KOWLOON EXPRESSWAY LINKING UP TSUEN WAN AND WEST KOWLOON, A THIRD HARBOUR CROSSING LINKING THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF HONG KONG ISLAND WITH WEST KOWLOON AND ROUTE SEVEN LINKING SAI YING PUN AND ABERDEEN.
GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF SOME NEWLY COMPLETED TRUNK ROADS AND VARIOUS MAJOR HIGHWAY PROJECTS WHICH WERE UNDER CONSTRUCTION, MR LAN NOTED THAT OVER 80 PER CENT OF THE MEASURES RECOMMENDED IN THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORT STUDY IN 1976 HAD BEEN IMPLEMENTED.
+AT PRESENT, THE TOTAL VALUE OF PROJECTS BEING PLANNED AND DESIGNED BY THE HIGHWAYS DEPARTMENT AMOUNTS TO OVER $5 BILLION,+ HE SAID.
+AMONG THE SE A FEASIBILITY STUDY ON THE SECOND ROAD LINK BETWEEN SHA TIN AND EAST KOWLOON, KNOWN AS THE TATE'S CAIRN TUNNEL, HAS JUST BEEN COMPLETED. DETAILED DESIGN AND SITE INVESTIGATION WORK IS EXPECTED TO START SOON.+
TO MEET THE ANTICIPATED INCREASE IN TRAVEL DEMAND IN THE NORTHWEST NEW TERRITORIES, CONSTRUCTION WORK ON A NEW TRUNK ROAD LINKING AU TAU AND TUEN MUN, WITH CONNECTIONS TO YUEN LONG AND TIN SHUI WAI, WOULD START IN EARLY 1988.
IN THE 1987-88 FINANCIAL YEAR, WORK WOULD START ON SOME 20 NEW HIGHWAY PROJECTS WITH A TOTAL CONSTRUCTION COST OF ABOUT $1.3 BILLION.
+MAJOR HIGHWAY PROJECTS UNDER THIS CATEGORY INCLUDE THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE REMAINING SECTION OF THE ISLAND EASTERN CORRIDOR BETWEEN SHAU KEI WAN AND PAK CHAI WAN AND PHASE IV OF THE NEW TERRITORIES CIRCULAR ROAD BETWEEN FAIRVIEW PARK AND MAI PO,+ HE SAID.
TURNING TO ROAD MAINTENANCE, MR LAN SAID THE HIGHWAYS DEPARTMENT PUT CONSIDERABLE EMPHASIS ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ORDER TO UPGRADE THE APPROACH TO HIGHWAY DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION AND TO IMPROVE STANDARDS AND PLANNING OF MAINTENANCE WORK.
/HE NOTED