1 Western corridor underused by 89 percent, says transport chief
Carol Chung, The Standard 1 November 2007

The HK$7.8 billion Hong Kong-Shenzhen Western Corridor is being underused by as much as 89 percent, a government official admitted yesterday.
Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng Yu-wah told the Legislative Council the government was liaising with the mainland authorities to address the situation.

However, transport sector lawmaker Miriam Lau Kin-yee said the "very big discrepancy" between the actual traffic flow and the projected figures showed the corridor has been a failure in easing traffic congestion at other control points.

In answer to a question from a legislator, Cheng said the government had earlier estimated a daily usage of around 29,800 trips on the corridor - the fourth vehicular corridor to enter Shenzhen via Shenzhen Bay Port.

However, actual usage only rose from 1,400 trips in July to 3,256 in September, or about 11 percent of the estimate.

Most of the trips were made by private cars (1,701) and goods vehicles (1,166), Cheng said.

She said the government had consulted the cross-border freight trade, which expressed concerns about the lack of support facilities and the potential congestion at the Shenzhen end of the corridor.

Some said the ancillary facilities around the Shenzhen port area were not yet fully developed, and little support was given to the cross-border drivers because Hong Kong freight companies could not set up offices near the control point.

Cheng said there was also concern about possible traffic congestion as the construction of the Guangshen Yanjiang Expressway to the control point had not yet been completed.

"We hope they [Shenzhen authorities] would consider implementing traffic management measures as necessary to improve the traffic condition of the connecting road network and complete the construction of Yanjiang Expressway as soon as possible to increase the capacity of the road network," Cheng said.

"We will continue to work closely with the relevant mainland authorities to further improve the clearance arrangements at the port area to attract more vehicles to use the control point." To encourage usage, cross-border goods vehicles have been exempted from getting advance endorsement to cross the port area.

Arrangements have also been extended for cross-border private cars to use the control point on a trial basis.

The corridor was built to reduce traveling time to about 20 minutes between the northwestern New Territories and the port of Shekou in Shenzhen.

It opened on July 1 this year with much fanfare at an opening ceremony attended by President Hu Jintao.

Before the corridor opened, Assistant Commissioner for Transport (New Territories) Cindy Law Fung-ping said about 5,000 truck drivers had applied to the Guangdong authorities to use the corridor. Law said the traffic burden on other border checkpoints, including Lok Ma Chau, would be reduced after the corridor opened. He believes Lok Ma Chau traffic should be diverted to the corridor.