XN000022-1997-01-04+05 — Page 5

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Airport Core Programme heads towards completion

Eight of the 10 Airport Core Programme (ACP) projects are heading towards completion as the countdown begins to the opening of a new transport corridor from Central to Tung Chung on Lantau Island.

In a review of progress made in 1996, the Director of the New Airport Projects Co-ordination Office (NAPCO), Mr Billy Lam, said today (Sunday), "1996 has been a year of remarkable progress for the 10 projects of the ACP and 1997 will see us starting to reap the benefits of the programme as eight of the projects come to fruition."

Mr Lam said that starting from February, the 34-kilometre long transport corridor, linking the new town at Tung Chung and the new airport at Chek Lap Kok to the urban areas, will be progressively opened to traffic.

The first project to cross the ACP "finishing line" will be the expressway that runs along the West Kowloon Reclamation, known as the West Kowloon Expressway, and the Kwai Chung Viaduct section of Route 3. This 7.2 kilometre stretch of six-lane expressway will be opened soon after the Chinese New Year in February.

"A major benefit of this opening will be to ease traffic congestion in the west Kowloon area," said Mr Lam.

The next major ACP project set for completion is the two-kilometre Western Harbour Crossing linking Sai Ying Pun to the West Kowloon Reclamation which is due to be opened to traffic in April, ahead of schedule.

The remaining roads of the ACP highways network, that is the Lantau Link, the Tsing Yi section of Route 3 and the North Lantau Expressway, will open in May.

Looking back over the past year, Mr Lam said that excellent progress continued to be made on all of the 10 ACP projects. As at the end of November, the Government's seven ACP projects were 93 per cent complete, while overall, including the new airport, the Airport Railway and the Western Harbour Crossing, the ACP was about 73 per cent complete.

"It is a remarkable achievement that work has been progressing so well on a 10- project programme of this size and complexity," said Mr Lam.