Support for Kai Tak monorail: Government proposes HK$12-billion elevated rail

MOST respondants in a public consultation favour an elevated monorail above the Kai Tak development area (啟德發展區), the government said. If approved, the monorail will link the Kai Tak development area to East Kowloon (東九龍).

The second round of public consultations on the proposed HK$12-billion monorail has ended. The other proposal for a tram is unlikely to be carried out. It is because road networks in Kowloon Bay (九龍灣) and Kwun Tong (觀塘) are too packed for it.

Sorais Lee Kwan Siu-kuen (李關小娟) said, “In some old district areas in Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong, the roads are narrow and there are also many pedestrians and many vehicles travelling around.”

“It may occupy two and three road lanes if there are tram stations. It is quite difficult to accommodate the [tram] network,” the Kai Tak Office (啟德辦事處) head in the Civil Engineering and Development Department (土木工程拓展署) added.

Kowloon City (九龍城) district councilor Yeung Chun-yu (楊振宇) said the party queried the rationale for building a monorail rather than a tramway.

“At present, trams can still travel narrow road areas in Causeway Bay (銅鑼灣) and we doubt the trams cannot travel road areas in Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong,” Yeung said.