Two MTR stations eyed to connect artificial islands

The MTR stations HKU and Kennedy Town could become interchanges for the rail connecting Hong Kong Island and the proposed Kau Yi Chau artificial islands, which could accommodate half a million residents and be the city's third central business district.

Despite sediment below the three artificial islands being about 20 meters deep, the Civil Engineering and Development Department is confident it could carry out the project safely with new technologies.

In an exhibition introducing a preliminary development plan yesterday, Civil Engineering and Development director Michael Fong Hok-shing said the islands would be connected to Hong Kong Island by rail, with HKU Station an interchange.

"The department is also considering whether we need to add another interchange platform at Kennedy Town Station so it will be more convenient for passengers," Fong said.

The new line would pass the central business district and residential area on the artificial islands and reach Sunny Bay Station, connecting the islands to the Tung Chung Line.

Fong said a 13-kilometer fourth road harbor crossing is also planned. That would mean drivers could in 10 minutes be in Central from the artificial islands or in 15 minutes at the airport and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

Authorities have "full confidence" they can complete the artificial islands project, Fong said, despite worries of green groups the waters are deeper than in previous major projects.

"In terms of reclamation we don't have to refer to overseas cases," he said. "Hong Kong is no stranger to reclamation with rich experience.

"More than 7,000 hectares of land in Hong Kong have been reclaimed from the sea, including 1,500 hectares built after 2000."

Although the waters near Kau Yi Chau were around four to 12m deep, with an average of eight meters - deeper than the third runway and Tung Chung East projects - reclamation work at Shek Kwu Chau was completed at an depth of 12m to 15m.

Fong said sediment below the proposed three artificial islands would be about 20m deep - similar to the third runway and Tung Chung East projects that were completed smoothly.

Handling sediment below the artificial islands would require a deep cement mixing method, he said, adding: "We have never seen reclamation work unfinished. All projects were completed."

Fong said stony coral groups were found in the shallow waters around Kau Yi Chau, Siu Kau Yi Chau and Sunshine Island, and so authorities decided to build three artificial islands separated by a Y-shape channel for ecological protection.

The channel would be about 200m wide and the velocity of seawater around the islands would not change much, he said.

The 1,000 hectares of artificial islands could house 500,000 to 550,000 residents - similar in size to Sha Tin and Ma On Shan, director of planning Ivan Chung Man-kit said.

The islands would also as a third main business district with Central and Kowloon East offer 270,000 jobs.

"In the past, most people living in new towns had to travel to urban areas for work," Chung noted.

He said buildings in the business district on the islands would have multiple purposes.

A public consultation period for the Kau Yi Chau islands project runs to the end of this month with more than 200 opinion letters received so far.

A designated website of the project has recorded 7,000 clicks, and more than 9,000 people have visited exhibitions on the project. But a view offered yesterday from Greenpeace held that the Y-shape channel idea for the artificial islands might not protect the stony corals as marine life is sensitive.

And as reclamation work could last for decades, the group said, engineering ships and machinery would pollute the marine environment.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com