TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1992
QUESTION:
DURING THE
MR GOVERNOR, HOW ARE YOU? I WOULD LIKE TO ASK YOU, SEVERAL MONTHS YOU ARE HERE, WHETHER YOU HAVE TRAVELLED ALONG TUEN MUN ROAD AND HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED ANY CONGESTION ALONG TUEN MUN ROAD?
GOVERNOR: MAKE
I HAVE TRAVELLED ALONG IT, BUT THIS IS WHEN I SHOULD A CONFESSION, BECAUSE ALL OF YOU KNOW THAT IF YOU ARE GOVERNOR, YOU TEND TO TRAVEL WITH THE HELP OF THE POLICE RATHER MORE QUICKLY THAN IF YOU ARE AN ORDINARY MEMBER OF THE COMMUNITY IN HONG KONG. YOU SFE, I'VE STARTED OFF BY BEING VERY HONEST AND I WANT TO GO ON LIKE THAT. IF I CAN JUST SAY ANOTHER WORD AND THEN YOU COME BACK; WHAT I THINK I RECOGNISE IS THE IMPORTANCE OF DOING MORE IN THIS PART OF OUR COMMUNITY IN ORDER TO SPEED UP TRANSPORT LINKS. BY THE END OF THIS YEAR, WE WILL HAVE, OF COURSE, STUDIES WHICH SHOULD BE ABLE TO ALLOW US TO MAKE DECISIONS, FIRST OF ALL ON ROUTE 3 AND SECONDLY, ON A RAIL LINK FROM THE NORTH-WEST OF THE NEW TERRITORIES INTO THE MAIN URBAN AREAS. IN THE MEANTIME, THERE ARE IMPORTANT THINGS WE SHOULD DO TO GO ON TRYING TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF FERRY CROSSINGS, THE NUMBER OF BUS SERVICES AND, IF I MAY SAY SO, TO INVOLVE DISTRICT BOARDS MUCH MORE IN TAKING DECISIONS ABOUT TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT ISSUES; ISSUES LIKE THE PROVISION OF CROSSINGS AND THE SITING OF TRAFFIC LIGHTS, THOSE ARE EXACTLY THE SORT OF ISSUES WHICH DISTRICT BOARDS ARE EXTREMELY WELL PLACED TO ADVISE US ON, BUT THE QUESTIONS ARE, I KNOW, GOING TO BE THE FUTURE OF THE ROUTE 3 AND THE FUTURE OF OUR RAIL SERVICES.
QUESTIONER:
DO YOU WANT TO COME BACK?
ARE
MR GOVERNOR, IF YOU HAVEN'T EXPERIENCED ANY CONGESTION ON TUEN MUN ROAD, I HOPE YOU HAVE GOOD LUCK. NOW, MANY NEW TOWNS BEING DEVELOPED, A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE MOVING INTO NEW TOWNS FROM THE URBAN AREA, FROM THE AREA OF TUEN MUN AND YUEN LONG A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE TO GO OUT TO THE URBAN AREA TO WORK EVERYDAY AND ALL OF THEM ARE USING TUEN MUN ROAD. ALL KINDS OF VEHICLES HAVE TO USE THAT ROAD тоо AND THE CONGESTION IS VERY BAD AND THE NEW TERRITORIES RESIDENTS HAVE MORE THAN ONCE REFLECTED THEIR OPINION AND THEIR REQUEST TO THE GOVERNMENT AND TO ASK FOR A RAIL LINK BETWEEN TUEN MUN AND TSUEN WAN, BUT SO FAR WE HAVEN'T GOT ANY ANSWER. SO MAY I ASK YOU, MR GOVERNOR, WOULD THE GOVERNMENT CONSIDER BUILDING A RAIL LINK BETWEEN TUEN MUN AND TSUEN WAN? IF NOT, THEN I MIGHT HAVE TO CONSIDER MOVING OUT TO URBAN AREA AGAIN.
I
GOVERNOR:
WELL, WE WOULDN'T WANT THAT. I REPEAT WHAT I SAID EARLIER, THAT WE HAVE TO TAKE TWO DECISIONS LATER IN THE YEAR: ONE WILL BE ON ROUTE 3, THE OTHER WILL BE ON THE RESULTS OF OUR RAILWAY DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY, WHICH WILL BE PUBLISHED LATER IN THE YEAR. HOPE THAT WILL START TO SUGGEST SOME OF THE ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS. BUT IF IT DOESN'T I'M SURE YOU WILL LET ME KNOW AS ELOQUENTLY AND HUMOROUSLY AS YOU HAVE THIS EVENING, BECAUSE THESE ARE VERY IMPORTANT ISSUES, I KNOW HOW IMPORTANT TRANSPORT IS, PARTICULARLY WHEN WE ARE STILL SEEING SUCH SUBSTANTIAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEW TERRITORIES.
/QUESTION: MR