The government will have to spend an additional HK$11.2 billion on the ongoing reclamation project in Central and the future Central-Wanchai Bypass, which will decidedly be a tunnel.

Government sources said yesterday that building a tunnel instead of a flyover involves permanent and temporary reclamation. The government arrived at the decision after extensive consultation with legal professionals and concluded that a tunnel involves the minimal amount of reclamation in the context of the Protection of Harbour Ordinance.

The Central Reclamation Phase III project will go ahead in tandem with the Central-Wanchai Pass project. To save the trouble of excavating the reclaimed land at the time of the tunnel's construction, the government said it will build protective walls, top slabs and other structures along the two sides of the trunk road, increasing the project cost from HK$3.5 billion to HK$5.7 billion.

In the opinion of architects, the tunnel option is preferred because it provides a better harbor view and generates less traffic, air and noise implications, but they said the HK$2.2 billion additional cost may be too high.

Owing to legal challenges, the Central-Wanchai Bypass project has been delayed. In 2004, the Court of Final Appeal ruled that reclamation should be done only when there is overriding public need. Early this year, the Court of First Instance decided that the ruling also applies to provisional reclamation.

After consideration, the government has chosen the tunnel option over the flyover option, despite the former's pricetag being inflated by HK$9 billion, taking a year longer to construct and requiring more reclamation. The main rationale, according to a government spokesman, is the flyover will become a permanent eyesore on the waterfront. In addition, the tunnel option provides more room for harbor enhancement and access.

Legislative Council (LegCo) Panel on Development Deputy Chairman Patrick Lau, formerly an architecture professor, backed the government proposals, saying the protective works for Central Reclamation III are necessary. He was also pleased to note that the government will arrange yachts now moored at Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter to moor at Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter to save the trouble of rebuilding breakwaters for the boats.

Vincent Ng, an architect and member of the Harbour Enhancement Committee, said he supports the tunnel option. The committee had thoroughly discussed the option and agreed this is minimal reclamation with overriding public need. If the flyover option was adopted, it would affect the harbor view, Ng said.

Hung Wing-tat, a civil engineering associate professor at Polytechnic University, described the Central Reclamation III protective works as rather expensive but said the government may have no better alternative. But he pointed out that the government may be criticized for "stealing the way forward" by building the protective works ahead of reclamation.

The proposals have the blessing of the Harbour Enhancement Committee and concerned District Councils, the government said. The LegCo panel will discuss the proposals on Tuesday.

As for Central Reclamation III, it will seek approval from the LegCo Finance Committee and its Public Works Subcommittee for funding. If the plan is approved, it can go ahead in early 2009 and be completed in mid-2011 to tie in with the Tamar Development, which comprises the new Government Secretariat and LegCo complexes.

(HK Edition 11/19/2008 page1)