ecre for Planning, Envi- ronment and Lands, Mr. Graham Barnes
The Government has been engaged in strategic planning since 1972 when the network of new towns in the New Territories was planned to provide opportunities for the public housing programme. Most of the objectives were social, the economic expansion being partly catered for by the provision of land for industry to the fixed proportion of the population. As at 1985, stra- tegic plans for the nineties develop ment showed the airport still in Kai Tak and port expansion mainly provided for at Stonecutters and Tsing Yi and on a port island in the Western Harbour. By 1986, it was clear from the increased through- put in the port that a more system- atic plan of action for the expansion of the port and especially for con- tainer handling was needed, and that time was not apparently on our side. At the same time the projection of demand for air services revived planning for removal of the airport. Given the need to preserve the east- ern part of the territory as far as possible for recreation (which was an integral part of the Territorial Development Strategy) and the importance of the Pearl River trade in the future development of the port, the natural expansion area was in the west, the same general area as Chek Lap Kok. So planning for the airport and port had to take ac- count of each other's demands. This was graphically demonstrated in several combinations of port, air- port and infrastructural formations put together by Hopewell Holdings and shown to Government in late 1986.
2. The Port and Airport Devel- opment Strategy study which began in 1987 and was completed in 1989, first built up a more detailed pic- ture of the likely demand for port facilities as a basis for port plan- ning. It then applied the results to the three main options for the air- port - that is Kai Tak retained, air- port removed to Chek Lap Kok and airport removed to a site in the sea
off Lamma Island - actually several variations were studied and had been subsequently studied as potential airport sites by specialist airport consultants. The narrowing down of the optional strategies from a total of over 40 formations to the recommended PADS proposals was a process of elimination, testing against the agreed criteria which was outlined earlier - which included transport performance, environ- mental effects, overall contribution to the economy and certainty of scheduling as well as engineering feasibility and cost and finally shortlisting of the options by re- sults. Throughout, sufficient engi- neering feasibility and other studies had been done to support the choices which had to be made at each stage, and a thorough system of monitor- ing and testing the data was estab- lished through a series of commit- tees at different levels, headed by policy committee chaired by the Chief Secretary.
3.
The final PADS strategy announced last year now provides a framework within which Govern- ment is carrying out detailed engi- neering studies on the component port projects for progress in con- struction. Good examples are the detailed engineering and planning studies now being done on container complexes for Stonecutters and East Tsing Yi and for the river trade at Tuen Mun and the major engineer- ing studies now just starting for the Lantau Port Peninsula, the future heart of the port of Hong Kong. It also sets the pattern for the airport construction programme, into whose schedule of reclamations, roads and structures, port and other related development programmes are in- evitably interwoven.
4.
The world and particularly this exceptionally dynamic region have not stood still while we have been planning PADS. By and large 1986 projections of port and airport throughput are standing the test of experience, but in more qualitative terms too the changes which the PADS study will be making on the physical scene are also being re-
flected in the changes which are taking place in the economy over- all. Since 1986, the growth of new factories in Hong Kong has contin- ued to slow down, and this is re- flected in a lower demand for con- ventional factory land, the terms of sale of which presuppose the con- struction of a flatted factory build- ing. So expansion of port services helps to compensate for the reduced expansion of local manufacturing industry, and is in a wider sense critical to the expansion of the manufacturing capacity of the re- gion. The other trend is pressure for development in the north and west of the Territory. Tuen Mun has now become a very popular town. Tin Shui Wai looks really promis- ing as a residential area and there is a strong demand for accessible land throughout the whole of the North West for industry-related uses for open storage. There is much evi- dence to show that for many years our economic survival will depend on the port and other services which can contribute to the region in which we operate and the PADS policy should be seen in this light. And the benefits are not just economic. On the opening day of Chek Lap Kok Airport, Kai Tak will close. Almost unbelievably on that day there will be no aircraft roaring over Kowloon Tong and Sham Shui Po and much of the traffic on Chatham Road flyover and around the Kowloon City roundabout will be gone. This will, of course, be a wonderful op- portunity for the restructuring of a somewhat quieter Kowloon, to the relief of overcrowding and for new economic opportunities. It is proba- bly the single most important change from which the Metroplan will benefit.
Port and Airport Development Information Unit
31 October, 1990
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