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HK's Transport Infrastructure Investments to Create 40,000 Job Opportunities
Hong Kong's ambitious 300 billion HK dollars (38.4 billion US dollars) rail and road infrastructure program will create more than 40,000 job opportunities in the next five years.
Nicholas Ng, secretary for transport of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR), made the announcement here Saturday at a joint press conference with the secretary for works to provide details of government's overall efforts not only to boost the economy and job opportunities, but also to promote Hong Kong's long term prosperity.
"This massive investment represents more than half of the overall investment of 600 billion HK dollars that government and the two railway corporations will make on infrastructure in Hong Kong," he said.
The investment includes about 200 billion HK dollars (25.6 billion U.S. dollars) for 12 railway projects, and more than 100 billion (12.8 billion U.S. dollars) for road projects.
"Our action agenda encompasses an ambitious expansion program for the railway, the most efficient and environmentally friendly mass carrier. We will work towards the completion of six rail projects by 2007, expanding the existing network by 40 percent to over 200 kilometers," he said.
There are also plans to build another six railways by 2016, which will expand the network to over 250 kilometer.
As for road projects, in the next 10 years, there will be construction and improvement of over 100 kilometers of strategic roads. The program will cost a total of more than 100 billion HK dollars and create about 20,000 job opportunities.
"I am optimistic that the rail and road projects will give a strong impetus to the economy, and will better prepare Hong Kong for the challenges ahead," Ng said.
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