XN000022-1997-04-09 — Page 55

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Ferry service at Wan Chai Waterfront

Following is a question by the Hon Howard Young and a written reply by the Acting Secretary for Transport, Mr Paul Leung, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Question:

In view of the impending opening of the extension to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) and the concentration of hotels in certain areas near the Kowloon waterfront, will the Government inform this Council whether it will consider offering franchises to the territory's existing ferry companies to operate both regular and event-related ferry services between HKCEC and Tsim Sha Tsui and between HKCEC and Tsim Sha Tsui East; if not, why not?

Reply:

Mr President,

The opening of the extension to the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) will generate some additional traffic. However, it is not envisaged that the increased demand will be sufficient to support a new ferry service in addition to ferry routes presently being provided by our two ferry franchisees. The Government therefore has no plans to introduce a regular ferry service from the HKCEC to Tsim Sha Tsui or Tsim Sha Tsui East.

On existing services, the Star Ferry Company Limited operates a ferry service between Tsim Sha Tsui and the Wan Chai Ferry Pier from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. daily. There is ample spare capacity on this service. It takes only about 3 minutes to walk from the Wan Chai ferry pier to the HKCEC. The Hongkong & Yaumati Ferry Company Limited also operates ferry routes from Wan Chai to Hung Hom and to Tuen Mun. In addition, there is an MTR service between Tsim Sha Tsui and Wan Chai. The Wan Chai MTR Station is connected to the HKCEC by a covered walkway.

We appreciate that there may be a need for special arrangements to cater for large-scale functions at the HKCEC, especially those which last beyond the normal operating hours of regular ferry services. We will consider arranging special event- related ferry services if necessary.

End