Road Building
Many people have said that we should continue to build more roads. The Liberal Party has argued that the Administration has been far too conservative in its investment in new transport infrastructure. We do have plans for major highways in the New Territories, for example, Route 3 (Country Park Section) is a key project, and of course I am delighted that we now have the go ahead for this in principle. But the opportunities for new roads in the urban areas is strictly limited. There is simply no space for flyovers where would we put the approach roads? And what is more the environmental impact would be totally unacceptable. A recent editorial in the Sunday Morning Post was I think spot on in warning against socially unacceptable solutions put forward by the motoring lobby which could result in Hong Kong being turned into a network of flyovers and underpasses with parking underneath.
-
On this point may I acknowledge the input from Friends of the Earth, the Conservancy Association and the Community Action on Air Quality and Health group for pinpointing, particularly, the need to recognise the impact on the environment and take this into account. I have noted with interest the Honourable Peter Wong's suggestions.
Traffic Management
As regards traffic management, our proposals are to implement many new bus priority schemes. We have plans for 30 in the coming year and this is to give precedence to public transport in the use of road. This is one measure that has attracted widespread support from Members and indeed also the public during the consultation period, and we will certainly try our best to implement many more such schemes. In this respect I take note of the Honourable Lee Wing-tat's suggestions which I fully agree with. For example a trial bus only lane will be introduced along Tuen Mun Road early next month. But the public must not be misled into believing that bus priority schemes are a wholly painless solution to the problem. They will mean less road space for other essential commercial traffic and will also impose severe physical constraints on private motorists. Those lanes which remain open to private and commercial vehicles will become more congested than they are today. But again we do need to give priority to public transport.
And indeed there has also been widespread public support for tougher enforcement action against those who cause traffic congestion for example by parking illegally or loading and unloading goods vehicles in non designated places. This has the administration's wholehearted support. The Police are stepping up their efforts to tackle such problems and we will be reviewing penalties for these offences. We recognise the need for better traffic management, just as we agree that much more must be done to reduce the number of road openings and their duration.