唐英年：借鏡穗佛同城化

政務司長唐英年表示，廣州與佛山的「同城化」措施，值得本港借鏡，並擬邀請珠三角九市領導來港。

唐英年今日展開在珠江三角洲地區的第二天訪問行程。他在佛山進行訪問時表示，廣州及佛山就如何可在以民為本、方便市民、減低成本的大前題之下，令到廣州和佛山的居民可以進一步融合，以及可以享受到很多方便，例如巴士不需是長途車，電話不需要打IDD，不需漫遊。

他表示，他們的模式在我們現時構建一小時優質生活圈這個構思時，有很多方面是值得香港借鏡的。他指出，香港很想做到，譬如將來香港前往廣東不需要漫遊；又或者是廣東的居民都可以來香港一日遊，買點東西，吃一頓飯，看一場電影，然後返回廣東；又或者是佛山居民同樣可以做到這些；又或者是香港居民能夠前往佛山吃點東西，去順德吃點東西，去廣州買點東西或是探望朋友、遊山玩水，隨便他們做甚麼都可以，而且在同一日內可以返回家中，這些是很多值得香港借鏡的。

他表示，在基建方面，政府會審視是否有進一步可以融合，方便旅客、方便遊客的措施。本港現正興建的廣深港高速鐵路，香港總站將來會設在西九旁邊，所以政府決定在這個總站內預留位置將來可以做一地兩檢。這方面當然仍然有一系列的法例上等各方面的障礙還需要克服。

他表示，在完成訪問九個市後，希望可以在香港組織一個交流會或是座談會，邀請全部九個市的領導來香港討論一下在各方面進一步的合作，如何可以在整個《珠三角規劃綱要》之下，在整個珠三角經濟區域可以加強合作。

Call to begin rail link in Yuen Long

A green group will apply to the Twon Planning Board to stop the building of a cross-border railway station in West Kowloon.

Green Sense said the government should build the terminus for the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link in Yuen Long instead of West Kowloon.

"There is no reason why residents in the New Territories should go all the way to Kowloon to take a train to the mainland," the group's chairman Roy Tam Hoi-pong said.

The rail link, estimated at HK$39.5 billion, will start construction this year and is to be up and running by 2015. It is expected to cut the route to Guangzhou from nearly two hours to 48 minutes. It will be built underground and there will be no stop between the West Kowloon terminus and Futian station in Shenzhen.

Mr. Tam said the government should build a section from Shenzhen to West Rail's Kam Sheunjg Road Station, near Yuen Long.

"Passengers should then switch over to the West Rail if they want to head for Kowloon. It is unnecessary and a waste of money to build a new route and a new terminus specifically for the cross-border train."

His group will submit an application to impose a "no railway station development" condition on the site of the West Kowloon terminus. "Such an expensive railway project will inevitably need residential develoipments to finance it. We are worried there would be more wall-like housing in West Kowloon."

A spokeman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said "an interchange station at the New Territories will inevitably extend the travelling time and will hinder the [service's] effectiveness." The bureau received 85 objections during a two-month consultation, he said, and objection letters related to land resumption in Choi Yuen Tsuen in Yuen Long.