Discussion

Session 3. Construction

MR SHARPE, Introduction to Paper 10 The title of the Paper was suggested by the organizing committee of this conference, and it epitomizes what has been achieved in Hong Kong during the 10 years 1977-87. In the energetic and fast moving environment of Hong Kong, 'completing on time1 was synonymous with 'construction management'.

Hong Kong MTR was, at £2000 million, one of the world's largest urban construction projects. Construction began in 1975, and by 1986 nearly 40 km of mainly underground railway and three depots were completed, together with a considerable number of associated high-rise developments. The problems with such construction in a densely populated urban environment, and in the difficult and diverse surficial geological deposits of the harbour side, were a civil engineer's dream. The establishment of an MTR is always a traumatic experience, but Hong Kong has survived and the MTR in 1987 now carries one and three quarter million passengers during its 19 hours of operation per day. Public transport journey times of one and a half hours in 1978 can now take less than half an hour, and there has been a temporary halt on the worsening highway congestion.