Call to postpone building of new Kowloon highway

A green group has urged the government to postpone the development of the Central Kowloon Route as it fears more pollution from its construction will affect the district.

Green Sense said the overlapping of the highway project and several other large-scale infrastructure development works on the Kowloon peninsula - including the Sha Tin to Central Link MTR project, the Kwun Tong line MTR extension and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link - "would turn Kowloon into a big construction site" in the coming years.

"A lot of different construction work is under way. If the Central Kowloon Route development is to start in 2015, it will bring more nuisance to the residents here on a continuous basis," Green Sense project manager Ho Ka-po said.

Ho urged the government to postpone the highway project and to review whether it was even necessary to solve Kowloon's traffic woes.

The development of the Central Kowloon Route - connecting the West Kowloon reclamation area and the proposed Kai Tak development area - aims to relieve traffic congestion on roads across the central Kowloon area.

A group of Yau Ma Tei residents want the section of the highway that passes through their home to be a covered tunnel to reduce the level of noise and pollutants if the highway project goes ahead.