XN000022-1983-01-11 — Page 2

TUESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1983

MASSIVE SPENDING ON ROAD PROJECTS

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THE GOVERNMENT EXPECTS TO SPEND $8.8 BILLION OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF HONG KONG'S PRESENT ROAD PLANS THE SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORT, MR ALAN SCOTT, SAID THIS (TUESDAY) EVENING.

A FURTHER $3.8 BILLION COULD ALSO BE SPENT ON PROJECTS CONSIDERED HIGHLY DESIRABLE IN TRANSPORT TERMS, MR SCOTT SAID WHEN ADDRESSING THE HONG KONG UNIVERSITY CONVOCATION.

+WORK GOES AHEAD ON SEVERAL LARGE NEW ROAD ITEMS INCLUDING THE ISLAND EASTERN CORRIDOR, THE VICTORIA BARRACKS DEVELOPMENT, THE TAI HANG ROAD FLYOVER AND THE WIDENING OF POK FU LAM ROAD, ON HONG KONG ISLAND.

+IN KOWLOON, THERE IS THE WEST KOWLOON CORRIDOR, THE ELEVATED ROAD FROM CHEUNG SHA WAN TO BOUNDARY STREET, AND OTHER ELEVATED ROADS IN THE KOWLOON BAY AREA, WHILE THE TAI PO/SHA TIN COASTAL ROAD AND THE WIDENING OF THE NEW TERRITORIES CIRCULAR ROAD ARE MAJOR NEW TERRITORIES PROJECTS.

+AND OF COURSE, WORK IS PROCEEDING ON THE MTR ISLAND LINE AND THE COMPLETION OF KCR'S MODERNISATION AND

ELECTRIFICATION, HE SAID.

MR SCOTT POINTED OUT THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAD A DYNAMIC AND COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPORT POLICY,

+TRANSPORT SERVICES IN HONG KONG ARE AN EXTRAORDINARY MIXTURE; TRANSPORT DEMANDS ARE WIDELY RAMIFIED AND COMPLICATED AND THEREFORE POLICY OBJECTIVES MUST COVER A MULTITUDE OF FACETS, + HE ADDED.

TO GIVE SOME EXAMPLES, MR SCOTT SAID THAT DURING 1982 THE GOVERNMENT WAS CONCERNED WITH SUCH EXTREMELY DIFFERENT MATTERS AS BUILDING NEW MAJOR ROADS, SUCH AS THE ISLAND EASTERN CORRIDOR AND THE COMPLETION OF THE TUÊN MỤN HIGHWAY: AND AT THE SAME TIME INVESTIGATING MINUTELY INDIVIDUAL ACCIDENT BLACK SPOTS THROUGHOUT HONG KONG.

+WE HAVE BROUGHT IN RATHER SEVERE MEASURES OF BROAD FISCAL RESTRAINTS ON THE RATE OF GROWTH OF PRIVATE VEHICLES, TO CONTROL CONGESTION WHILE AT THE SAME TIME THE REGULATIONS PRESCRIBING THE CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF VEHICLES HAVE BEEN MINUTELY ANALYSED AND REWRITTEN.

+WE ARE INVOLVED IN PLANNING THE TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE OF THE FUTURE. WHILE AT THE SAME TIME MONITORING THE DETAILS OF TRANSPORT SERVICES OPERATING DAY BY DAY, HE SAID.

/MR SCOTT