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MTRC hopes synergy plan will win bid 2.
Changing track 3.
Long Valley Cartoon by Harry Wong
1. MTRC hopes synergy plan will win bid
Details have emerged of the rival bids submitted by the MTR Corporation (MTRC)
and the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) for the development of the $35
billion 15-kilometre railway linking Central with Sha Tin. No financial details
have been revealed but insiders said the MTRC (0066) has offered radical alternatives
to increase the passenger catchment by an extra 240,000 people in an effort to
boost ridership and revenue on the proposed Central-Sha Tin line. But sources
also revealed that under the terms of the competition, these alternative proposals
would only be considered if the MTRC secures the bid for the original government
scheme. "MTRC's non-conforming alternatives will only be looked at if it
wins the conforming project put out to tender by the government,'' said one source.
The two rail companies submitted tenders in July for the rights to design, build,
finance and operate the line. The government is expected to announce a winner
in December. The rail corporations are unable to comment on their bids. One source
said: "There is a gag which prevents us talking about the offers.'' Asked
by iBusiness if this ban on discussing the bids was a condition contained in the
tender documents or had been imposed subsequently by the government, the source
said: "There is a gag on the gag - we can't publicly talk about the ban.''
The Central-Sha Tin line has been packaged together from four separate extensions
after last year's rail development strategy said were individually unlikely to
be financially viable if they went ahead. These are: Tai Wai-Diamond Hill, East
Kowloon, a fourth harbour crossing and Exhibition/Admiralty to Central. According
to the government's rail development strategy, there are two options for the Central-Sha
Tin line on Hong Kong Island. The first, which has been included in the bid documents
runs from the fourth harbour crossing to Exhibition station, Admiralty and Central.
The second, which appears to have been postponed indefinitely runs from the fourth
harbour tunnel via Victoria Park, to Leighton Hill, south Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Park to Central.Sources said the MTRC's alternative offers include an additional
station at Tsz Wan Shan on the Tai Wai-Diamond Hill segment. The MTRC estimated
that this station would have a catchment of 100,000 people that are not easily
served by the existing Diamond Hill station. On the East Kowloon section, the
rail corporation has proposed extending the line from Hung Hom to Whampoa where
a further 140,000 people would have access to the rail network. On Hong Kong island,
the MTRC has proposed a cross platform interchange at Admiralty between the Central-Sha
Tin and the Island lines. It has also proposed a new underground station in the
Stanley-Wellington Street area of Central. The MTRC said it could also slash a
year off the development programme by doing the environmental impact assessment
at the same time as seeking official go-ahead for the railway through the rail
development ordinance. This means the railway could open in 2007 instead of 2008.
By comparison, the KCRC has largely followed the government's brief for the railway.
But it has proposed a new station in the Hollywood Road area of Central. At Admiralty,
rather than a direct interchange with the mass transit system, the KCRC has put
forward plans for a station at the Tamar site. [Source:
Hong Kong iMail, 29 October 2001] 2.
Changing track
Having won the fight to stop the construction of a railway viaduct through Long
Valley, green groups now say the alternative tunnel option is not as environmentally
friendly as it sounds, and want the viaduct back. The public will find the turnaround
difficult to fathom. Environmentalists must now articulate their case clearly
and cogently or the goodwill they have earned in putting up a spirited defence
of the wetland will be lost. Their main contention is that an underground tunnel
will have a higher consturction bill and will also mean much higher operation
costs for the railway. Moreover, while the tunnel seems to spare the wetland,
there is no guarantee it will not affect the area's water table. Should that happen,
the wetland could turn dry and make farming impossible, defeating the objective
of pursuing the expensive tunnel option. In fact, as some legislators pointed
out last week, since Long Valley is in private hands, it could easily be drained
dry and turned into a parking lot for container trucks, as has so often happened
to private farmland in the New Territories. That would make Long Valley a very
expensive parking lot. Rather than spending a fortune to build the tunnel, environmentalists
say the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation should fine-tune its viaduct option
to minimize disturbance to Long Valley. The money saved should then be used to
buy up Long Valley and other ecologically sensitive areas so they could be preserved
forever. The KCRC and the government had opted for the tunnel option believing
it would offer political certainty so there would be no further delays to construction.
But that certainty has failed to materialize. The green groups might have performed
a back flip, but their revised proposal for a viaduct deserves to be considered
on its merits. [Source:
SCMP, 29 October 2001] 3.
Long Valley Cartoon by Harry Wong [Source: Harry
Wong, SCMP 29 October 2001] |  |
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