Technical Seminar on Tuen Mun Chek Lap Kok Link

By Ir NG Wai Leung

Tuen Mun Chek Lap Kok Link is one of the current mega infrastructures in
Hong Kong. The total project cost is as high as 45 billion HK dollars and the
project is divided into three main contracts. The YMC was honorable to invite
Ir Tony Kwan from Highways Department to share his experience regarding
the design and construction issues of the sub-sea tunnel and the viaducts in
the contracts. The participants had a good chance to get a glimpse of that
challenging project through the YMC evening seminar on 9 Feb 2015.

Ir Kwan firstly introduced the road network development strategy in North West
New Territories. The proposed 9 km long link road which consists of a toll plaza
on Tuen Mun side, a 5 km dual 2-lane carriageway in sub-sea tunnels and
some offshore viaducts will connect Tuen Mun to Tung Chung and will in turn
connect to Zhuhai and Macau through Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. With
this alternative, the travel distance between the airport and Tuen Mun will be
shortened by 22 km compared with the current route through Tsing Ma Bridge
and Tuen Mun Road.

After that, Ir Kwan went through the details of design and construction
difficulties the project team facing. During the design stage, the design team
compared the pros and cons between the immersed tube method and the
tunnel boring machine method for tunnel construction. Having considered the
impact on the submarine utilities, the ecology and the marine traffic of Urmston
Road, they finally adopted tunnel boring machines. During the construction
stage, the team has been coming across several restrictions such as height
restriction and vessel size control imposed by the Airport Authority. Another
key challenge would be that the viaduct over the Tung Chung Navigation
Channel had to be constructed without blocking the channel. The project team
was still negotiating with different government departments in order to find a
way out.

Lastly, Ir Kwan also discussed with the audience regarding the geological
conditions, the lifting arrangement of viaduct segments and the size of the
tunnels. That fruitful discussion provided a good platform for the participants to
know more about and to appreciate the complexity of the project. We would
like to thank Ir Kwan for taking time to share his valuable experience.
The seminar was well-attended by members

Ms Candy Fung (R), Committee Member of the YMC, presenting souvenir to Ir

Tony Kwan (L)