| Airport Core Programme | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tsing Ma Bridge, part of the Airport Core Programme | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 香港機場核心計劃 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 香港机场核心计划 | ||||||||||||
| Cantonese Yale | Hēung góng gēi chèuhng haht sām gai waahk | ||||||||||||
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The Airport Core Programme was a series of infrastructure projects centred on the new Hong Kong International Airport during the early 1990s. The programme was part of the Port and Airport Development Strategy, commonly known as the Rose Garden Project.
The cost for the whole project was estimated at over HK$200 billion, and the Chinese Government was concerned about its impact on the financial reserve of the future Hong Kong SAR Government. Several changes were made to the plan, including the shortening in distance of the two main towers of the Tsing Ma Bridge[1] and the construction of the Airport Railway as a double-track railway. The project ended up costing HK$160.2 billion.[2]
The Programme formally commenced after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between British Prime Minister John Major and Chinese Premier Li Peng in Beijing on 3 September 1991, and lasted eight years in total. It was the most expensive airport project in the world, according to the Guinness World Records. It was the biggest infrastructure programme in Hong Kong's history.
- ^ "當年千億玫瑰園計劃搞什麼？ 奠定香港發展基石". www.bastillepost.com. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
- ^ "Working Paper: Hong Kong: The Airport Core Programme and the Absence of Corruption". Transparency International. Archived from the original on 24 February 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2007.