Hong Kong lawmakers give green light to HK$6.8 billion Trunk Road T4 highway project
- After four-hour Finance Committee meeting, 61 lawmakers endorse project linking Ma On Shan with Tsing Sha Highway and Shing Mun Tunnel Road
- But three lawmakers vote ‘no’, saying cost is too high even after government trimmed funding request
Hong Kong lawmakers have approved a controversial plan to build trunk roads aimed at easing traffic congestion in Sha Tin at a cost of HK$6.8 billion (US$870 million), although three legislators opposed the project even after the price tag was cut amid criticism.
After a four-hour meeting of the Finance Committee on Friday, 61 lawmakers endorsed the Trunk Road T4 project, spanning 2.3km (1.4 miles), that will link Ma On Shan with the Tsing Sha Highway and Shing Mun Tunnel Road.
Doreen Kong Yuk-foon, Tik Chi-yuen and Gary Zhang Xinyu voted “no”, while 12 lawmakers abstained, including Johnny Ng Kit-chong, Connie Lam So-wai, Kitson Yang Wing-kit and Reverend Canon Peter Douglas Koon.
The green light came after the Transport and Logistics Bureau cut its funding request from HK$7.1 billion to about HK$6.8 billion, a 5 per cent reduction.
The bureau said it could save money by employing less sophisticated materials and dropping certain planned community facilities. Using less costly materials to build noise barriers would save HK$120 million, while doing away with plans for a cycling bridge and a lift would bring the price down by another HK$100 million, it said. The bureau also plans to scale down certain landscaping works to shave a further HK$30 million off the price tag.
But the cost-cutting did not go deep enough to sway all lawmakers. Tik, the sole non-establishment member in the legislature, found the revised cost unacceptable.