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Hong Kong -
Shenzhen - Zhuhai Corridor Homepage
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Hong Kong
Link Road and Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities Homepage
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Tuen Mun - Chek Lap Kok Link and Tuen Mun
Western Bypass Homepage
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1. Will locating the HKBCF at the Northeast of the Airport Island (ie Option NECLK) cause any negative impact to Tung Chung residents?
2. What are the advantages of locating the HKBCF at the Northeast of the Airport Island (ie Option NECLK)?
3. Why is it non-feasible to locate HKBCF at the West of Airport Island (ie Option WCLK)?
4. Why does the tunnel option at the north side of Airport Island not adopted for HKLR in order to move it further away from Tung Chung?
5. How can the Chinese White Dolphins be protected from the project?
6. Has railway provision been considered for HZMB?
7. Is it appropriate to name the footpath between Tung Chung and Tai O as "Tung O ancient trail"?
8. Will overseas workers be imported to Hong Kong for the construction of the Hong Kong ¨C Zhuhai ¨C Macao Bridge (HZMB) related Hong Kong projects?
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1. Will locating the HKBCF at the Northeast of the Airport Island (ie Option NECLK) cause any negative impact to Tung Chung residents?
(i) Visual impact
HKBCF is at a distance of 2 kilometres away from Tung Chung, which is roughly to the distance between Central and Jordan across the Victoria Harbour . Visual impact on views from Tung Chung premises should be minimal. Please refer to the photomontages for the future views of HKBCF from Seaview Crescent , Coastal Skyline and Caribbean Coast .
(ii) Air quality and noise impacts
With the HKBCF locating 2 kilometres away from Tung Chung, the latest assessments showed that the buffer distance is sufficient to reduce the air and noise impact. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been carried out in accordance with the Environmental Impact Assessment Ordinance (EIAO), of which air quality, noise impacts and other impacts has been assessed to ensure compliance to the EIAO.
(iii) Impact on shoreline
Option NECLK for HKBCF will not involve reclamation along the Tung Chung shoreline while small reclamation off the east coast of the Airport Island will be carried out for the at-grade road section of Hong Kong Link Road (HKLR). The shoreline of Tung Chung Bay and the periphery of the Lautau Island will not be affected.
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| 2. What are the advantages of locating the HKBCF at the Northeast of the Airport Island (ie Option NECLK)?
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3. Why is it non-feasible to locate HKBCF at the West of Airport Island (ie Option WCLK)?The Option WCLK is not feasible in view of the following reasons:
(i) Main water flow of Pearl River Delta (PRD)
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge ( HZMB ) is locating at the major water flow path of the PRD. As such, extreme caution must be exercised when designing for the HZMB so as not to impede the flow and flood discharge capacity of PRD and upstream, jeopardizing the discharge capacity of the Pearl River Estuary. Assessments were carried out during the HZMB feasibility study and the Ministry of Water Resources and other related experts unanimously agreed that the water resistance ratio of the HZMB should be controlled within 10%. If the HKBCF is located at the water west of the Airport Island , the flow blockage area will be increased, affecting the water flow and flood discharge ability at the upstream of the Pearl River Estuary.
(ii) Conservation of Marine Ecology
The waters in the western side of the Airport has long been recognized as an active area and nursing ground of Chinese White Dolphins . Dolphins are densely populated at Sha Chau/ Lung Kwu Chau and at the west of Lantau Island . The waters in the western side of the Airport is also an important dolphin movement corridor in-between the two locations. An artificial island constructed in the way of this movement corridor will seriously affect the marine ecology.
(iii) Reclamation at both East and West of Airport Island
This option will preclude the opportunity of combining reclamation of the TM-CLKL with the HKBCF. This option will require reclamation not only on the western side, but also on the eastern side to provide a landfall for the
TM-CLKL, which is not conducive to sustainable development objectives that reclamation should be minimised.
(iv) Detouring of HKLR
Compare to option NECLK, this option will cause a 2 kilometres detouring for HKLR , resulting in an additional social cost (including time and fuel consumption) and traffic emission (NOx emission increased by 60 tonnes per annum).
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4. Why does the tunnel option at the north side of Airport Island not adopted for HKLR in order to move it further away from Tung Chung?
This option is not adopted in view of the following major problems which are in conflict with the concept of sustainable development:
(i) This option requires a large reclamation in western waters, hence affecting PRD flow and dolphins habitat
(ii) The tunnel will pose constraint to the future developments of the HKIA; the area at the north of the Airport Island is reserved for Airport expansion. Constructing a tunnel underneath the expansion will increase the risk caused by fire or explosion inside the tunnel, thus affecting the operation and safety of the airport.
(iii) When compared to the currently proposed Airport-Channel alignment, this option will cause a 3km detour, hence increasing social cost (e.g. time and fuel consumption) and exhausted gas emission (additional of about 75 - 90 tonnes of NOx emission).
(iv) It is much more costly than the Airport-Channel alignment (estimated increase in construction cost of HK$13 billion).
(v) It is estimated an extra 15 million cubic meters contaminated mud will be created when compared to the Airport-Channel alignment.
(vi) Lighting and ventilation facilities will require to be operating 24-hours daily inside the kilometers long tunnel at the north side of Airport Island. An increase in energy consumption of 30 million kilowatt hour annually (which will emit approximately 21,000 tonnes CO2) is envisaged.
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5. How can the Chinese White Dolphins be protected from the project?
The government attaches great importance to preserving the dolphin ecology when planning the bridge projects. Our aim is to minimise any impact caused to the dolphins.
An in-depth study by dolphin experts indicates that dolphins occur year-round at Sha Chau/Lung Kwu Chau, Tai O and at and near the west waters of the airport island. Their presence at and near the northeast waters of the airport island and the Brothers Islands are seasonal.
The overall densities, densities of calves, sighting densities of feeding and socialising activities are considerably higher near the west waters of the airport island. Accordingly, we put the boundary crossing facilities northeast of the airport to keep human activities further away from the west waters.
In addition we have formulated specific mitigation measures to be taken during the construction stage according to the experts' recommendation. We will establish an exclusion zone around areas of piling and dredging works to be closely monitored by experienced independent dolphin observers. Once dolphins are found within the zone work will stop until they leave. Besides, we will employ silt curtains and closed-grab during dredging and dumping operations to minimise water quality degradation; and employ bubble curtains/jacket and avoid percussive piling to prevent acoustic disturbance to dolphins. We will also apply restrictions on working vessels to reduce their disturbance to dolphin activities. In addition, we are studying the designation of the Brothers Islands as a marine park in accordance with the statutory process stipulated in the Marine Parks Ordinance to compensate the permanent loss of the dolphin¡¯s habitat arising from the reclamation.
We will continue to do our best towards protecting our dolphins as well as our environment.
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6. Has railway provision been considered for HZMB?
The option of incorporating railways into the HZMB has been critically examined considering various factors including demand forecast, engineering requirements, attraction to passengers and compatibility with the planning of railway network in the Pearl River Delta etc.
From engineering perspective, the gradient of a railway line is considerably more demanding than that of a road link. As the HZMB will be constructed in bridge-cum-tunnel form, it will not be possible to accommodate both the freight railway line and the road in the same alignment. Therefore, a separate bridge/tunnel option for the whole alignment of freight railway from Zhuhai to Hong Kong is required.
As the railway line in Lantau and Tsing Ma Bridge were not designed for freight loadings, the cargoes from the train via the HZMB would need to be unloaded in Lantau Island before reloading onto trucks for transportation of freight to Kwai Tsing container ports or other areas in Hong Kong, such operation of which is extremely inconvenient and inefficient, and is unlikely to be commercially viable.
According to the traffic projection, the incorporation of railways into the HZMB would not significantly increase the passenger flow volume, but will increase the project cost significantly. In view of different railway designs in Hong Kong and Mainland, it would also incur additional cost to provide the through train service between Hong Kong and Mainland. If a passenger rail to be incorporated in HZMB, rail passengers would need to change train either in Zhuhai or Hong Kong, which is inconvenient. As such, provision of railways into the HZMB will cause adverse impact on the financial effectiveness of the project.
Accordingly, railway provision in HZMB is not viable from engineering, overall railway planning and financial viability viewpoints.
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7. Is it appropriate to name the footpath between Tung Chung and Tai O as "Tung O ancient trail"?
The name of "Tung O ancient trail" has been widely used by the public. If you search the phrase "Tung O ancient trail" or ¡¸–|°Ä¹ÅµÀ¡¹ on the World Wide Web, you will find a number of websites of public organisations, including hiking organisations, youth associations, travel agencies, clubs, etc. using this name. Therefore, it is well-founded to use ¡°Tung O ancient trail¡± to describe the footpath between Tung Chung to Tai O.
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8. Will overseas workers be imported to Hong Kong for the construction of the Hong Kong ¨C Zhuhai ¨C Macao Bridge (HZMB) related Hong Kong projects?
A. It is the HKSAR Government¡¯s policy that local workers must be given priority in filling up job vacancies available in the job market. Only under exceptional circumstance when employers are genuinely unable to recruit local workers to fill their job vacancies, the HKSAR Government may consider the request for importing workers on a case-by-case basis under the Supplementary Labour Scheme. For more information of this scheme, please visit the Labour Department¡¯s web site: http://www.labour.gov.hk/eng/plan/iwSLS.htm.
At the moment, the HKSAR Government does not have any plan to import workers for the construction of the HZMB related Hong Kong projects, including the Hong Kong Link Road, the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities and associated reclamation works.
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