Contract signed for Central Kowloon Route - Yau Ma Tei East (with photo)
The Highways Department today (March 6) signed a contract worth about $5,015 million with Build King-SKEC Joint Venture for works in Yau Ma Tei East under the Central Kowloon Route (CKR) project. The works mainly comprise construction of an approximately 390-metre-long section of tunnel in Yau Ma Tei, reprovisioning of an approximately 300m-long section of Gascoigne Road Flyover to the west of Nathan Road, demolition of the Yau Ma Tei Car Park building, and reprovisioning of other affected public facilities in Yau Ma Tei.
The Director of Highways, Mr Daniel Chung, said at the contract signing ceremony that a total of three contracts including this contract of the CKR project have been awarded, with a total value of about $12 billion. In order to preserve the Yau Ma Tei Police Station, which has been accorded Grade 2 historic building status, the CKR will only pass underneath part of the building, which will have its foundation strengthened. The contract will also provide noise enclosures and noise barriers with a total length well exceeding 1 kilometre. These, together with other noise mitigation measures under the CKR project, will reduce the noise level as compared with the scenario without the CKR, benefitting about 1 600 dwellings in Yau Ma Tei.
The CKR is a 4.7-km-long dual three-lane strategic trunk road in central Kowloon linking the Yau Ma Tei Interchange in West Kowloon with the road network of the Kai Tak Development and Kowloon Bay in east Kowloon. It is anticipated to be commissioned in 2025. The CKR will relieve traffic congestion in the road network in central Kowloon. It is estimated that the journey time between Yau Ma Tei and Kowloon Bay during peak hours will be much reduced, from 25 minutes to about five minutes.
Ends/Tuesday, March 6, 2018
