ENG-2001 — Page 338

CHAPTER 15

Infrastructure Projects

278

IN 2001, Hong Kong continued to forge ahead on infrastructural development. Projects under construction or being planned range from major new roads and railway lines to hi-tech industrial developments.

Overall, about 1 600 projects in the Capital Works Programme are under way, with an average annual expenditure of about $25 billion to $30 billion for the next five years, depending on actual works progress. In addition, the two railway corporations are investing about $100 billion in the expansion of their networks for completion in phases over the next six years.

The amount of money to be invested far exceeds the spending on the new airport and related projects, which dominated infrastructural works in the 1990s. The robust investment in capital works will provide a significant growth in jobs in the coming years. In 2001, 25 000 job opportunities were created by projects newly started. It is envisaged that some 30 000 new job opportunities will be created in 2002.

Railway Projects

The Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) continued to make rapid progress on its West Rail (Phase I), a 30.5-kilometre passenger railway running from Sham Shui Po in West Kowloon to Tuen Mun in the north-western New Territories. Construction work, under way for four years, reached its peak in 2001. By the end of year, civil engineering works were nearing completion, and the West Rail was well on target to commence operation by December 2003.

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Milestones during the year included the 'break-throughs' for the Tai Lam Tunnel and the Kwai Tsing Tunnels, and topping out of the Tin Shui Wai Station, the Tuen Mun Station and the KCRC West Rail Building in Kam Tin. The railway's viaduct structure, totalling 13.4 kilometres, was also completed. By year-end, 47 kilometres out of a total of 88 kilometres of track had been laid.

The KCRC's Ma On Shan Rail and Tsim Sha Tsui Extension projects entered the construction phase in November 2000 and March, respectively. By year-end, with 22 per cent of the overall implementation completed, both projects were well on schedule for completion in 2004. The Ma On Shan Rail is a 11.4-kilometre rail link from Tai Wai to Wu Kai Sha and will have nine stations. For the Tsim Sha Tsui Extension, it will extend the KCR East Rail by about one kilometre from the existing Hung Hom terminus to a new station in Tsim Sha Tsui East.

To relieve the congestion at Lo Wu and to provide a second rail link to meet the ever-increasing cross-boundary rail passenger traffic, the corporation during the year continued with planning for the 7.4-kilometre Sheung Shui to Lok Ma Chau Spur