4.
It is apparent that the P W D and the Transport Department are giving practical effect to their belief that the project will eventually go ahead insofar as provals for building and other development are being regulatod in such a way that design of foundations, locations, etc. will be such as to fit in with the proposed scheme. In addition, apart from soil investigations that have already been carried out, soils information available from existing and new building is being collated and land required for the project is being acquired.
The main impediment to an immediate decision is the financial/ political one, which is not surprising in view of the very large sums involved. The Hong Kong authorities have traditionally conducted their financial affairs on a conservative basis with emphasis on financing new development out of revenue.
They would obviously like to find a solution which accorded as near as possible with this policy. Unfortunately, the very
low fare structure on existing means of transportation which is maintained in Hong Kong, largely for political reasons, makes it out of the question that the project could be privately financed.
This gap, however, is not as wide as would first appear based on experience elsewhere, e.g. in London. As an example, the 'bus companies are privately owned and appear to be operating profitably, although it was only this month that a fare structure, which commenced with a 10 cent fare, was replaced by a flat rate of 20 cents for all journeys, some of which are for distances up to 10 (7) miles.' (20 cents 3.4d).
There are, of course, many distortions but the basic factors which affect the economics of mass transport are the density of the traffic and the comparative absence of peaks.
There is a profound psychological objection to anything in the nature of a subsidy, but one had the impression that it was increasingly recognised that as long as fares remain a political issue, it was unrealistic to regard the necessity for making up any shortfall in revenue as a subsidy to transport,
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