Hong Kong authorities are looking beyond a shelved reclamation project near Lantau Island and are considering options for a fourth cross-harbour tunnel, with lawmakers describing such a facility as essential to ease persistent congestion and aid the city’s further development.
Assistant Commissioner for Transport Leung Sai-ho told a radio show on Monday that authorities had previously been more confident about the viability of building a tunnel as part of the Kau Yi Chau reclamation project off Lantau Island.
“Since the timetable for the Kau Yi Chau project is unclear, we would like to be more flexible at this stage and see if we can find alternative routes,” he conceded, adding that the government would consider traffic demands and costs when formulating an alternative plan.
In September last year, authorities shelved a controversial HK$580 billion (US$74.6 billion) reclamation project to build three artificial islands in the sea off Kau Yi Chau, citing the need to prioritise the Northern Metropolis megaproject, which will turn the area bordering mainland China into a technology and housing hub.
Under the shelved plan, also known as Lantau Tomorrow Vision, the government had aimed to build a third business district on the reclaimed area, with up to 210,000 homes for 550,000 residents over 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of land.
The artificial islands had also been expected to provide linkage points for rail and road routes that connect Hong Kong Island with the northwest New Territories.
