Press Releases and Statements
It's time to act on missing link
Deputy Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Thomas Chow does not need a crystal ball to see the daily traffic jams in Central. "Traffic congestion along the Connaught Road Central/Harcourt Road/Gloucester Road corridor is not something that we forecast will happen many years from now," Mr Chow said. "The problem is already here for all to see. There is a present and compelling need to ease the congestion, and that means building the Central-Wan Chai Bypass," he said.
"At present, from Sheung Wan on the west of Hong Kong Island, you can travel by car all the way up to the Rumsey Street Flyover. From there on, you have to hit the ground again. You have to travel on Connaught Road Central and then Harcourt Road and Gloucestor Road in order to get to the other side of the island," Mr Chow said. "Anybody in Hong Kong can see that this corridor is very, very busy. And it is busy at present. We're not talking about expecting congestion in many years from now ¡V we're talking about congestion right now."
Mr Chow stressed that every conceivable alternative had been investigated and many traffic management measures had already been implemented; yet the need for the bypass remained. "It is important that the community understand why the various additional traffic management measures that have been proposed, even if implemented, are unable to replace the bypass to resolve the traffic congestion problem."
Alternatives fully explored
Electronic road pricing (ERP) is one such measure. The Transport Department is conducting a feasibility study of ERP and Mr Chow does not dispute that such an option could bring benefits. But it also brings with it a classic "Catch 22" situation. "As far as we can see, as in the case of London and Singapore where ERP or congestion charges are imposed, the implementation of ERP would require the presence of an alternative route first, and therefore we need the bypass. Just imagine if we introduced ERP on vehicles travelling along this corridor. What it would mean is that if you wanted to go from Sheung Wan to Chai Wan, you would have to pay, because there is no alternative route and that would be unfair to motorists ¡V those who simply wanted to get from one side of the island to the other. The bypass is a prerequisite for the introduction of ERP in Hong Kong."
Mr Chow said another common suggestion was the removal of more buses from the Connaught Road corridor. But in fact most franchised buses ran along Des Voeux Road Central instead of the corridor. "There are a few bus stops along Connaught Road and Harcourt Road, and there are not many franchised buses relative to the number using Des Voeux Road. And since 1999, we have already reduced the number of bus trips going through Central by more than 15%," he said.
"Some have also suggested that we should restrict even more the loading and unloading activities along the corridor, but at present, only franchised buses can stop on the corridor. So there isn't much more we can do."
The proposed extension of the MTR to Kennedy Town similarly may reduce traffic congestion on the corridor slightly, but its effect on the highly congested Central-Wan Chai areas would not be great. "Some people who are at present using franchised buses or public light buses to commute from Kennedy Town and the Belcher's, for instance, would be attracted to the rail. But the fact is that at present very few buses use the corridor; they use Des Voeux Road Central. So even if we had a diversion of passengers from buses and public minibuses to the West Island Line, Des Voeux Road Central would be less congested, but the benefits to the Connaught Road/Harcourt Road corridor would be minimal," Mr Chow said. "In fact, we factored in the West Island Line in assessing whether the bypass was justified."
Raising the taxes paid by motorists not viable
The fact that around 90% of passenger trips in Hong Kong were already made via public transport meant that hitting motorists' pockets would have little effect on reducing traffic. Mr Chow said motorists' annual licence fees and first registration tax were already extremely high, so raising them further was not a viable option. Besides, even if taxes were raised the small number of motorists on Hong Kong's roads would probably be prepared to pay more.
The Expert Panel Forum on Sustainable Transport Planning and Central-Wan Chai Bypass meets on Saturday (September 3), and Mr Chow is hopeful that a broad consensus can be reached. The forum has been organised by the Sub-committee on the Wan Chai Development Phase II Review of the Harbour-front Enhancement Committee (HEC). The forum will take into account the submissions received from a cross-section of the community.
"The bypass has been discussed in the community for months and the HEC has done a lot of work in involving the public in the discussion. So far the discussions held by the Wan Chai Development Phase II Review Sub-committee have been focusing on many different factors," Mr Chow said. "The transport case for the bypass is only one of them, so this forthcoming expert panel meeting hopefully will help to generate a broad consensus on the transport case for building the bypass."
He said the case for the Central-Wan Chai Bypass was crystal clear to the Government and the Government treasured the opportunity to share these views with the expert panel and the public. The bypass is the only missing link in a strategic highway running along the northern shore of Hong Kong Island. It will connect the existing flyover near Rumsey Street in Central to the existing Island Eastern Corridor. This means that once completed, vehicles will be able to travel from Chai Wan all the way through to Tuen Mun or the Hong Kong International Airport without having to pass through busy Wan Chai and Central.
"The Government's original idea was to build the bypass largely in the form of a tunnel except the exits and entrances and except for the link with the Island Eastern Corridor, so the land above the tunnel can be put to very effective use. We can use the land to create something and return it to the people and to make use of the opportunity to improve public access to the harbour-front. This would be further reviewed through the public engagement of the HEC."
Mr Chow said the land reclaimed for the bypass could be turned into a vibrant meeting place where families could gather, buy snacks and drinks and enjoy the spectacular harbour view.
Economic, environmental benefits
As well as relieving traffic congestion, the bypass plan will also provide a number of other benefits. Among them are the economic spin-offs, both macro and micro. The Government estimates the economic internal rate of return from the bypass at about 28% over a 40-year lifespan.
With the bypass, motorists will spend less time on the roads. And, Mr Chow stresses, without the bypass, the reverse would be true. "At present during rush hour, it takes about 15 minutes to go from Rumsey Street to Causeway Bay, but if we don't have the bypass by the year 2012, we are looking at about 45 minutes." Less time on the roads means less money spent on fuel, which eventually will be more environmentally friendly. "If you have to stop and go, you consume a lot of gas and the vehicles would also produce more air pollutants and of course this is detrimental to the health of the public," Mr Chow said. "And the other thing is noise. If you have too many vehicles packing together and there is a small traffic accident it will be very noisy because people will blast their horns and so on. This section of the road is already pretty packed and even if there's just one car breaking down, it can create gridlocks miles away from this corridor."
Mr Chow said he hoped the comprehensive public engagement exercise over the past few months had dispelled most of the misunderstandings about the construction of the bypass. For instance, some in the community had argued that the bypass could be built on existing land, without the need for further reclamation, but of course all existing land was already in use. Another misconception was that a tunnel could be built all the way from Rumsey Street to Island Eastern Corridor (IEC). "But the fact is that the road has to come up somewhere to link up with the IEC, so we will need at least some reclamation to build that link from the bypass to the IEC," Mr Chow said. "Another thing is that for the bypass to be effective, we have to provide some exits and entrances in Causeway Bay and Wan Chai. Otherwise people travelling along the Eastern Shore will continue to use the corridor.
Government shares the community's objective
Mr Chow said that if there was no practical zero-reclamation option, it was a matter for how best to minimise the amount of land needed for reclamation and how best to utilise that land. "Of course, if there was a brilliant idea that involved no reclamation, we would more than welcome it," he said. "We share the same objective as the community, which is to reduce the area of reclamation as far as possible. That's our objective and we're going to do it."
He stressed that the Government had already given a firm commitment that apart from the current Central/Wan Chai reclamation and the Southeast Kowloon Development there would be no further reclamation within Victoria Harbour. He said the Government would adhere strictly to the Protection of the Harbour Ordinance and the "overriding public need" test established by the Court of Final Appeal on January 9, 2004.
Mr Chow said the HEC would continue with the realisation stage of the public engagement process. The public would be presented with a number of concept plans that reflected their input at the current stage for an informed evaluation. It is hoped to have a revised Outline Zoning Plan by next year, detailing the alignment of the bypass following a decision on its design. Then the five- to six-year construction of the bypass could start in 2007. Mr Chow points out that the sooner building works begin, the better, because congestion is only going to get worse. "This is the last part of a strategic road. We have to complete it."
Information relating to the Expert Panel Forum and all the submissions have been uploaded onto the Harbour-front Enhancement Committee website (http://www.harbourfront.org.hk/). Enquiries can be made on 2231 4408.
Ends/Thursday, September 1, 2005
Issued at HKT 20:54
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