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港议员可能将于周五就广深港高速铁路项目是否动工进行表决，这项引发广泛争议的工程造价86亿美元。
中：Agence France-Presse/Getty Images；上、下：Reuters
香港政府正在考虑建设通往深圳和广州的高速铁路（上面和下面的图片）。中间的图片为已经通车的武广高铁。
此事能否获批尚不确定。对这一高速铁路项目的反对之声已经将工程推迟了数月。重视成本的议员指出现有一条铁路已在低于运能的情况下运营。
这条拟建中的高速铁路将在紧邻香港的深圳停站，然后终点将停靠于广州市郊，广州是中国南方传统的贸易及运输枢纽。全程约45分钟。
现有铁路直达广州市中心，全程需2个小时左右。由于连接北京和广州的高速铁路将于2013年竣工，政府官员说届时从香港至北京约需10个小时，而不是现在的约24个小时。
香港特别行政区政府运输及房屋局局长郑汝桦(Eva Cheng)周二在广州说，民意强烈表示希望这项工程能够上马并且运行得越快越好；她说路程时间缩短有利于66万每周至少一次前往大陆的香港市民。
香港特首曾荫权(Donald Tsang)将基础设施支出作为自己经济政策的基石之一。他在2007年设立了发展局(Development Bureau)，致力于在2012年前推进10个大型基建项目，他说这些工程将为香港未来的持续发展奠定新的基础。
香港议会已经批准拨款约12亿美元兴建全球最大的跨海大桥，这座长达50公里、连接香港、珠海和澳门的双向六条车道跨海大桥已于12月动工。
于1998年启用的香港国际机场曾经历过进度拖延、成本超支等问题，算上周边相关公路、铁路及桥梁建筑，其最终成本达到了200亿美元。
人们本以为这条高速铁路的筹资工作能够及时完成，令工程建设能于去年开始并于2015年结束。但是持反对意见的议员将投票推迟到了今年，称每英里5.3亿美元的造价和经济收益比起来得不偿失。
该项目监管委员会成员、香港议员梁家杰(Alan Leong)在一个采访中指责道，港府在没有进行适当审查和考虑较便宜替代方案的情况下就在议会中像推土机一样强推自己的提议。
梁家杰说，我们都赞成高速铁路应该扩展至香港，但是政府建议将终点站设于西九龙是为了让在当地开发高档公寓和办公楼的地产开发商得利。他说，这个决定是受到了地产开发考虑的推动。
梁家杰说，这条高速铁路的成本和其他同类铁路和基建项目比起来过高，香港在这方面再次创造了世界纪录。
香港政府并未回应记者的置评要求。
郑汝桦说成本上升是受到了全球大宗商品价格上涨和地质问题引起的工程量增加所造成的。她说，如果最终成本能够降下来，那么每一分钱都会回归公共财政。她敦促议员尽快批准为这条铁路的建设拨款。
与此同时，沿线可能因该工程而拆迁的某村村民发出了越来越强烈的反对之声。这些村民计划在议会投票时在门外举行抗议。
郑汝桦周二说政府是在仔细考虑了如何将公众受到的影响降低最低后才敲定了铁路路线。这些村民将得到拆迁补偿。
Jonathan Cheng
Lawmakers on Friday may decide whether a contentious US$8.6 billion railway that would connect Hong Kong to southern China's two most important cities will move forward.
Hong Kong's government pitches the railway as a key to more closely integrate itself into the mainland Chinese economy. It warns that Hong Kong could be hurt without a dedicated link to China's high-speed national rail network.
Approval isn't a certainty. Opposition to the express rail link has already delayed progress for months. Cost-conscious legislators point to an existing railway that runs below capacity.
The express train would stop in the city of Shenzhen just across Hong Kong's northern border. Then, it would travel to an outlying suburb of Guangzhou, southern China's traditional commercial and transport hub, in about 45 minutes.
The current service, which arrives in downtown Guangzhou, takes about two hours. With the completion of a high-speed line linking Guangzhou and Beijing set for 2013, government officials say a train ride from Hong Kong to Beijing could take about 10 hours, compared with about 24 hours now.
'There's a strong public consensus to get this project up and running as quickly as possible,' Eva Cheng, Hong Kong's secretary for transport and housing said Tuesday in Guangzhou, noting that the faster traveling time would benefit the 660,000 Hong Kong residents who make the trip to mainland China at least once a week.
Hong Kong's chief executive, Donald Tsang, has made infrastructure spending one of the cornerstones of his economic policy. Mr. Tsang created a Development Bureau in 2007 to push ahead with 10 large-scale infrastructure projects before 2012, which he said would 'lay a new foundation for our sustained development in the future.'
The legislature has already approved about $1.2 billion to fund Hong Kong's portion of the world's longest oversea bridge, a 50-kilometer, six-lane highway to Macau and the mainland city of Zhuhai. Construction began in December.
Hong Kong's international airport, which opened in 1998, suffered from delays and cost overruns and wound up costing US$20 billion, including associated road, rail and bridge projects.
Funding for the new rail link was expected to have been approved in time for construction to have begun last year and finished in 2015. But opposition lawmakers pushed back the vote to the new year, arguing that the cost of $530 million for each mile of railway is out of proportion with the benefits to the economy.
Alan Leong, who sits on the legislative subcommittee reviewing the project, accused the government in an interview of trying to 'bulldoze' its proposal through the legislature without a proper vetting, and without considering cheaper alternatives.
'We are all for the express rail to be expanded to Hong Kong,' Mr. Leong says. But he says that the government's proposed terminus -- in a newly reclaimed district called West Kowloon -- is designed to benefit property developers who have built a cluster of luxury condominiums and office towers there. 'This is driven by real-estate development considerations,' Mr. Leong says.
The lawmaker says the cost of the express rail is 'out of proportion' with that of comparable rail and infrastructure projects. 'We have again set a world record,' Mr. Leong said.
The government didn't respond to a request to comment.
Ms. Cheng said that most of the higher costs were driven by rising global commodity prices and extra engineering work required to address geological concerns. 'If costs eventually come down, every penny will be returned to the public coffers,' she said, urging lawmakers to approve the railway funding as soon as possible.
At the same time, villagers in a rural settlement that would be displaced by the construction have also mounted an increasingly vocal campaign to stop the railway. The villagers plan to step up their protest outside the legislature as the vote approaches.
Ms. Cheng said Tuesday that the government determined the route of the railway after careful consideration to minimize the impact on the public. The villagers will be offered a compensation package for resettling.
Jonathan Cheng
Hong Kong's government pitches the railway as a key to more closely integrate itself into the mainland Chinese economy. It warns that Hong Kong could be hurt without a dedicated link to China's high-speed national rail network.
Approval isn't a certainty. Opposition to the express rail link has already delayed progress for months. Cost-conscious legislators point to an existing railway that runs below capacity.
The express train would stop in the city of Shenzhen just across Hong Kong's northern border. Then, it would travel to an outlying suburb of Guangzhou, southern China's traditional commercial and transport hub, in about 45 minutes.
The current service, which arrives in downtown Guangzhou, takes about two hours. With the completion of a high-speed line linking Guangzhou and Beijing set for 2013, government officials say a train ride from Hong Kong to Beijing could take about 10 hours, compared with about 24 hours now.
'There's a strong public consensus to get this project up and running as quickly as possible,' Eva Cheng, Hong Kong's secretary for transport and housing said Tuesday in Guangzhou, noting that the faster traveling time would benefit the 660,000 Hong Kong residents who make the trip to mainland China at least once a week.
Hong Kong's chief executive, Donald Tsang, has made infrastructure spending one of the cornerstones of his economic policy. Mr. Tsang created a Development Bureau in 2007 to push ahead with 10 large-scale infrastructure projects before 2012, which he said would 'lay a new foundation for our sustained development in the future.'
The legislature has already approved about $1.2 billion to fund Hong Kong's portion of the world's longest oversea bridge, a 50-kilometer, six-lane highway to Macau and the mainland city of Zhuhai. Construction began in December.
Hong Kong's international airport, which opened in 1998, suffered from delays and cost overruns and wound up costing US$20 billion, including associated road, rail and bridge projects.
Funding for the new rail link was expected to have been approved in time for construction to have begun last year and finished in 2015. But opposition lawmakers pushed back the vote to the new year, arguing that the cost of $530 million for each mile of railway is out of proportion with the benefits to the economy.
Alan Leong, who sits on the legislative subcommittee reviewing the project, accused the government in an interview of trying to 'bulldoze' its proposal through the legislature without a proper vetting, and without considering cheaper alternatives.
'We are all for the express rail to be expanded to Hong Kong,' Mr. Leong says. But he says that the government's proposed terminus -- in a newly reclaimed district called West Kowloon -- is designed to benefit property developers who have built a cluster of luxury condominiums and office towers there. 'This is driven by real-estate development considerations,' Mr. Leong says.
The lawmaker says the cost of the express rail is 'out of proportion' with that of comparable rail and infrastructure projects. 'We have again set a world record,' Mr. Leong said.
The government didn't respond to a request to comment.
Ms. Cheng said that most of the higher costs were driven by rising global commodity prices and extra engineering work required to address geological concerns. 'If costs eventually come down, every penny will be returned to the public coffers,' she said, urging lawmakers to approve the railway funding as soon as possible.
At the same time, villagers in a rural settlement that would be displaced by the construction have also mounted an increasingly vocal campaign to stop the railway. The villagers plan to step up their protest outside the legislature as the vote approaches.
Ms. Cheng said Tuesday that the government determined the route of the railway after careful consideration to minimize the impact on the public. The villagers will be offered a compensation package for resettling.
Jonathan Cheng
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