The Hong Kong government yesterday approved the HKD141.5 billion construction of a third runway at Chek Lap Kok airport.
When completed in 2023, it is expected to bring in 30 million additional passengers a year.
Former Hong Kong Observatory director Lam Chiu-ying, however, said that adding a third runway will do little to alleviate the congestion as promised, since the Hong Kong airspace is already very crowded, reports the SCMP.
“The flights have to enter an airway that is now like a saturated water pipe,” he said during an RTHK radio show, meaning air traffic controllers cannot send more flights into the skies unless mainland China allows Hong Kong to use some of its airspace.
Former civil aviation department head Lam Kwon-yu proposed that Hong Kong focus on providing more international flights by consolidating cross-border links like the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge and the bullet train network when completed to attract travellers to fly internationally via Hong Kong.
Lam also criticised the vulnerability of the current financing plan, which consists of funding internally from surpluses and surcharges and externally through loans and bonds. Instead, he wants the project to be paid for with public funds, which we all know the Hong Kong government’s definitely got plenty of.
Photo: Andy Mitchell via Flickr
