Additional demand for railway services (2014/12/17) - (Supplementary)

MR YIU SI-WING: Deputy President, I would like to ask the Secretary whether an assessment has been made on the impact as well as the gravity of the impact of the illegal Occupy Central movement on the progress of the Admiralty Station expansion works. If the construction works have been delayed, how serious the situation is? Will the Government monitor the impact in this regard and has the truth 

SECRETARY FOR TRANSPORT AND HOUSING: Deputy President, as stated in my main reply just now, the expansion works at Admiralty Station are undertaken to tie in with the SIL(E) works. According to the MTRCL, due to delay in construction works, the commissioning date of the SIL(E) has now been postponed to 2016 instead of the original schedule of end 2015.

The expansion works at Admiralty Station involve the addition of three underground levels below Harcourt Garden to the east of the existing station and the construction of a 200 m long overrun tunnel for the Shatin to Central Link (SCL). The works have indeed been affected by the Occupy Central movement since construction materials could not be delivered to the Harcourt Garden site as usual and the excavated materials could not be handled in time. Hence, the construction of the structure of the station could not commence as scheduled. 

Besides, the Mines Division of the Civil Engineering and Development Department could not deliver explosives to the work site between 29 September and 22 October, making it impossible to carry out the excavation work for the overrun tunnel of the SCL by blasting. Therefore, the works have actually been affected but as pointed out clearly in our progress update of various railway projects to the Subcommittee on Matters Relating to Railways of the Legislative Council earlier, there are a host of factors affecting the progress of construction.