New facilities add HK$450m to cost, causing no delay to project to be finished by 2018

The design of the seventh cross-border control point will allow private vehicles direct access to the passenger terminal, Secretary for Development Carrie Lam said on Thursday.

Lam said the Liantang/Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point will not require requisitioning additional land to construct the facilities.

The plan for the new crossing was selected from entrants to a design competition.

An extra HK$450 million will be added to the initial cost estimate, Lam said.

However, the department is still calculating the total cost of the project.

An underground parking lot, capable of accommodating more than 400 vehicle places, will be constructed, in addition to a public transport interchange station and an area for buses carrying cross-border school children.

The secretary expressed her confidence that the Legislative Council will give the nod to the financial allocation, as the design offers more convenience to passengers arriving in private vehicles.

Passengers will be able to walk directly to check points at the same building after arrival.

Construction on the control point, located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong, between the Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok control points, will begin in 2013, with completion expected by 2018.

The additional facilities will not cause any delay to the original schedule, Lam said.

"We are currently in the process before the construction - we have to spend some time in land expropriation and transferring residents of the nearby Chuk Yuen Tsuen. We cannot speed up if we are to make sure that the demands of the residents are met," Lam said.

Most Chuk Yuen Tsuen residents have agreed to move, according to the department.

The department will soon announce the third land sale arising from the project, Lam said.

She also pledged that the government will not undervalue the land sale.

It is estimated that nearly 20,000 people will pass through the control point every day.

The number may reach 30,000 in 2031, with 17,850 vehicles crossing the point daily.

Lv Ruifeng, Shenzhen's deputy mayor, said the control point is one of the seven significant cooperative projects between Hong Kong and Guangdong province.

It is also an initiative to promote cross-border relationship as stressed in the national five-year blueprint, Lv said.

andrea@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 09/02/2011 page1)