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Mr Glenville said the central portion of the project comprised an immersed tube tunnel with a total length of 1,363 metres.
The tunnel will consist of 12 pre-cast concrete units, each weighing about 35,000 tonnes and measuring 113.5 metres long, 33.4 metres wide and 8.5 metres high. They are being cast in three batches at the Shek O casting basin.
With completion of the first four units, preparatory work has been carried out since November last year to prepare them for floating and towing.
"This included the flooding of the 13-hectare casting basin to sea level and immersion checks on the units to ensure that there were no leaks and that they were properly balanced. The sand and sheet pile bund at the mouth of the basin was then removed, and some minor dredging carried out", Mr Glenville said.
"The floating and towing of the first unit began at 8 am today and the whole process took about eight hours to complete.
"The other three units will be floated out and towed to Tseung Kwan O within the next two weeks, after which the casting basin will be sealed and drained for casting of the next four tunnel units," he said.
Meanwhile, at Tseung Kwan O, additional work will be carried out on the first four units to prepare them for sinking and jointing.
"We expect the first of these tunnel units to be ready for positioning within a few weeks, when they will be towed into the harbour, carefully lowered into a dredged trench and then joined together," Mr Glenville said.
When completed in 1997, the Western Harbour Crossing will be Hong Kong's third cross harbour road crossing. It will carry six lanes of traffic, running a total length of two kilometres between Sai Ying Pun on Hong Kong Island and the reclaimed land in West Kowloon.
All of the design and construction works are being carried out by Nishimatsu Kumagai Joint Venture, the main contractor to the franchisee.
End/Monday, January 9, 1995