Kwun Tong Monorail Was Never Going To Work: Govt

Secretary for Development Michael Wong on Tuesday defended the government's proposal to solve traffic congestion in Kwun Tong with elevated moving walkways, after giving up a plan to build a monorail system there due to construction difficulties.

During a Legco panel meeting, many lawmakers, including the DAB's Wilson Or and the FTU's Alice Mak, criticised the government for shelving the monorail proposal after years of study since the idea was floated in 2007.

But the minister said there were valid reasons for officials to take their time looking into the suggestion, and just because they were studying it, it didn't mean it was going to be viable.

"Now many conclusions were not immediately apparent. For example, for the Hoi Yuen Road monorail [station] we needed 21 metres in width of space, but we only had 18 metres. Could we come up with three more metres by reducing the space for fire services or for the monorail? It couldn't be," he said through an interpreter.

Wong added that the monorail system would cost at least HK$20 billion to build and would lose millions of dollars every year when it started operating.

He said the alternative plan would be a feasible "second best" option, saying the elevated moving walkways, cycle tracks, new bus routes and water taxi services would cut travelling times in Kwun Tong.

He added that if everything goes as planned, the whole project should be completed by 2028.