New underground corridor 5-min link across Kowloon Peninsula

The government has introduced a plan which will cut traveling time between Yau Ma Tei and the Kai Tak Development area and Kowloon Bay to only five minutes, through a 3.9 kilometer underground corridor. The existing route through densely packed neighborhoods takes at least 30 minutes.

The plan is part of the proposal put forward by the government on Wednesday for the Central Kowloon Route.

After clearing obstacles of all historical landmarks and private properties, the Central Kowloon Route finally entered its last phrase of public consultation, which would pave the way for commencement of construction in 2015.

When completed in 2020, the Central Kowloon Route would become the first dual three-lane highway to cross the peninsula laterally, diverting traffic away from existing and jammed trunk roads such as Lung Cheung Road, Argyle Street, and Prince Edward Road West.

The Highways Department launched the second phrase of public engagement on Wednesday to determine design details of the long-delayed highway. The project has suffered from various setbacks since it was proposed in 1998.

The first delay came after a Court of Final Appeal ruling in 2004, which required all reclamation projects to be tested for overriding public need. It led to a redesign of the entire Kai Tak development.

Amid public outrage over demolition of Star Ferry pier in 2006, a panel of the Legislative Council declined a funding request to survey sites for the project because the administration was unable to make a promise on preserving the Yau Ma Tei police station.

The government subsequently carried out consultations between 2007 and 2009 to come up with a route that avoids any resumption of private properties, demolition of the police compound and permanent reclamation.

The main block of the police station, built in 1922 with an Edwardian style, will be preserved and untouched. Part of the extension wing built in 1957 will be underpinned to withstand the structural stress caused by the tunnel construction under it.

As the police station will be decommissioned before construction begins, the government also invited the public to recommend a suitable long term use for the Grade III historic building.

The Police Force has considered converting it into a police museum and activity center for uniform groups. Boutique hotel, community center, cultural venue and libraries were suggested in the consultation document as alternate uses.

Some facilities will be relocated. The infamous jade hawker bazaar, the multi-story car park, a public library and a clinic building will be demolished to make way for the construction.

A temporary four-story structure will be built to house the library and some of the jade hawkers. The open-air night bazaar on Temple Street, though surrounded by construction sites, will remain intact.

The works will not touch foundation of any properties, but easements will be created on about a dozen properties that the tunnel will run underneath. If the buildings were to be redeveloped, owners could seek compensation from the government in case the easements undermine potentials of the redevelopment.

A 370-meter-long underwater tunnel will be built in Kowloon Bay with the cut-and-cover method on temporary landfilling. Once the tunnel boxes are laid and sealed, the seabed and coastline will be restored.

As the route was a fixed plan, the final stage of consultation will mostly deal with design and purposes of features to be built along the highway, such as landscape decks, a waterfront promenade at Ma Tau Kok and the two ventilation buildings.

Forums and exhibitions will be held to help garner public views before the engagement exercise ends on March 5 next year.

kahon@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 12/06/2012 page1)