14
THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 1994
IT
GOVERNOR: ON THE FIRST POINT THAT THE HONOURABLE MEMBER MENTIONED, IS TRUE THAT THOSE OF US, INCLUDING CONCEIVABLY SOME MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, DON'T HAVE TO TRAVEL EVERY DAY IN THE SAME WAY AS MOST OF THE CITIZENS OF HONG KONG. I'M PERHAPS GUILTIER THAN MOST SINCE I WALK DOWNSTAIRS IN THE MORNING, RATHER THAN CATCH A BUS. I'M ALSO IN A SITUATION IN WHICH WHEN I DO CATCH A BUS OR CATCH A TRAM OR CATCH A TRAIN, I'M DOING SO IN THE COMPANY OF ABOUT 18 TELEVISION CAMERAS AND LARGE NUMBERS OF JOURNALISTS WHICH KEEPS ME COMPANY BUT ISN'T ENTIRELY THE SAME CRUSH THAT MOST OTHER PEOPLE HAVE TO ENDURE EVERY DAY. BUT IF IT'S ANY COMFORT TO THE HONOURABLE MEMBER, I USED TO COMMUTE REGULARLY TO THE OFFICE ON THE TRAIN AND IT WAS A LOT LESS GOOD A SERVICE THAN PEOPLE HAVE IN HONG KONG. BUT PRECISELY BECAUSE MANY OF US DON'T HAVE TO FACE THE SAME PROBLEMS THAT ORDINARY PEOPLE HAVE TO FACE, OTHER ORDINARY PEOPLE LET ME SAY, EVERY DAY IN GETTING TO WORK, WE SHOULD BE EVEN MORE CONSCIOUS OF THE IMPORTANCE OF PROVIDING GOOD PUBLIC SERVICES AT A REASONABLE COST. YOU DON'T HAVE TO LIVE IN A HOUSING AUTHORITY FLAT ΤΟ KNOW THE IMPORTANCE OF PROVIDING GOOD HOUSING AUTHORITY FLATS FOR AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. YOU DON'T HAVE ΤΟ USE A BUS OR A TRAIN EVERY DAY TO KNOW THE IMPORTANCE TO THE COMMUNITY OF PROVIDING GOOD BUS AND TRAIN SERVICES FOR EVERYONE FOR EVERY DAY OF THE YEAR AND NOT JUST OCCASIONALLY OFF PEAK.
REALISE SO I JUST PUT THAT POINT STRAIGHTAWAY BECAUSE I
THAT NOT EVERYBODY IN THE COMMUNITY HAS A FLAG ON THE FRONT OF THE CAR.
TO
то
THE HONOURABLE MEMBER RAISED, IN THE SHADOW OF THAT ADMONITION OF OF THAT SERMON, THE HONOURABLE MEMBER RAISED A QUESTION ABOUT PART THE AIRPORT RAILWAY, AND IT'S A VERY IMPORTANT QUESTION WHICH I THINK WAS RAISED EARLIER AS WELL AND I TRIED TO RESPOND TO EARLIER, WHETHER WE CAN DEAL WITH WHAT IS PERHAPS WRONGLY CALLED THE AIRPORT RAILWAY IN DIFFERENT BITES. EVEN IF WE CAN'T JUSTIFY THE WHOLE SYSTEM UNTIL THERE IS AN OVERALL AGREEMENT, DOING PARTS OF THE SYSTEM IN ORDER RELIEVE TRAFFIC PROBLEMS IN PARTICULAR AREAS AND I SAID IN REPLY THE QUESTION EARLIER, WHICH I SAY AGAIN TO THE HONOURABLE MEMBER, THAT WE DON'T BELIEVE THAT THERE IS A TRANSPORT JUSTIFICATION FOR DOING SMALL BITS OF THE RAILWAY. AND WE DON'T BELIEVE THAT WE COULD JUSTIFY JUST INVESTING IN THE TSING YI CENTRAL PART OF THE AIRPORT RAILWAY ON THE GROUNDS THAT THAT WOULD HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE NATHAN ROAD I DON'T THINK THE HONOURABLE MEMBER HAS CONVEYED ENTIRELY ACCURATELY THE POSITION OF THE MTRC, THOUGH I CAN UNDERSTAND WHY PERHAPS ADDED A BIT OF BOUNCE TO THEIR STEP ON THIS ISSUE. PREPARED TO LOOK AT ANY EVIDENCE THAT HE HAS, OR ANY NEW EVIDENCE MTRC HAVE AND IF THERE IS AN ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION FOR GOING WITH THE PROJECT THEN WE'D HAVE TO LOOK AT IT MORE SERIOUSLY. PRESENT I MUST SAY THAT HASN'T BEEN OUR CALCULATION.
CORRIDOR.
HE'S
BUT I'M
THE
AHEAD
BUT
AT
/WHAT WE