Earlier on, the Government officially embarked on the detailed planning and design work of the Northern Link (NOL), which is a new rail link in the Northwest New Territories. Upon implementation, the NOL will effectively unleash the development potential of the sites along its alignment and drive the development of the areas, bringing about more efficient and concentrated land uses to realise the infrastructure-led and capacity creating planning approach advocated by the current-term Government. The Development Bureau (DEVB) and the Transport and Housing Bureau (THB) have all along been working in close collaboration. This time, I have specially invited the Secretary for Transport and Housing (STH), Mr CHAN Fan, Frank, to talk about the NOL project.

Construction of a railway link with more stations

The NOL is one of the seven recommended railway schemes in the Railway Development Strategy 2014. The STH, Mr Frank CHAN, tells us that the NOL will be carried out in two phases. Kwu Tung (KTU) Station on the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line of the East Rail Line (ERL) will be built in Phase 1 to serve the transport need of the Kwu Tung North (KTN) New Development Area (NDA); whereas, the NOL Main Line, which is a 10.7-kilometre-long railway link between Kam Sheung Road (KSR) Station of the West Rail Line (WRL) and KTU Station of the ERL, with three intermediate stations at San Tin, Ngau Tam Mei and Au Tau will be developed in Phase 2. The provision of transport infrastructure will motivate land development, bring about more development opportunities for the areas along the alignment, provide more housing sites, and realise a larger housing yield.

Studies conducted on the housing sites of about 90 hectares along the alignment

The NOL is crucial to unleashing the development potential of the largely underutilised land along its alignment. So far, the Government has identified housing sites with a total area of about 90 hectares (equal to the size of four Taikoo Shings) along the NOL, and related studies are being conducted progressively. It is anticipated that over 70 000 housing units can be provided on these sites; of which, more than 30 000 units will come from the San Tin/Lok Ma Chau Development Node, over 10 000 units from brownfield sites around Ngau Tam Mei Station, and the rest from brownfield sites around Au Tau Station.

Without the NOL project, the capacity creating planning approach cannot be put into practice. As far as housing units are concerned, seventy thousand is not a small number. Currently, the housing demand projection of Hong Kong is around 43 000 units a year. The supply of 70 000 units would be enough to meet our housing demand for about 20 months, and we will adopt a planning target with a public/private housing split of 70:30.

Facilitating local residents to commute

Upon its full development, the KTN NDA will accommodate a total population of 119 700 and 33 000 jobs. According to Mr Frank CHAN, KTU Station, when commissioned, would facilitate residents in the area to use the rail-based transport system and save much travelling time. Now, the road journey from KTN to Sheung Shui Station takes about 15 minutes during rush hours. With the completion of KTU Station, the same journey by railway is expected to take only 3 minutes.

Besides, he says that Phase 2 of the NOL, connecting the ERL and the WRL, will form a loop of railway around the New Territories (NT) and Kowloon, which would greatly improve the transport connectivity between NT East and NT West. The road journey between Yuen Long/KSR and KTU now takes about 60 to 80 minutes during rush hours. If you travel by railway, the estimated journey time will be greatly shortened to about 12 minutes.

Phase 1 commencing in 2023

When asked about the commencement date of the construction works, Mr Frank CHAN, says that according to the preliminary timetable, the construction of the NOL Phase 1 is expected to commence in 2023 for completion in 2027, whereas Phase 2 is expected to commence works in 2025 for completion in 2034. He adds that the Government will urge the MTR Corporation Limited to expedite its work to reduce the overall construction period so that the public will be benefitted as soon as possible.

Without doubt, the NOL is much anticipated. This new rail link will connect Northwest and Northeast NT to unleash land potential, help further increase housing supply and accomplish the vision of promoting development through infrastructure projects. Now, with the year 2021 around the corner, I would like to wish you all good health, peace and happiness. Although the epidemic situation remains severe, I am very confident that as long as we stand united and work together, we shall be able to overcome all difficulties and challenges.