Latest link: The section of Route 8 from Sha Tin to Cheung Sha Wan, including the Eagle's Nest Tunnel and its toll plaza, is scheduled to open in late 2007 or early 2008.

The Transport & Housing Bureau suggests traffic on Route 8 from Sha Tin to Cheung Sha Wan pay a $12 toll for private cars and taxis, $12 to $24 for goods vehicles and $18 to $30 for buses.

In a paper tabled to lawmakers today, the bureau said a number of factors, such as cost, strategic position and tolls of alternative routes, public acceptability and affordability, as well as estimated traffic flow, have been taken into account in drawing up the proposed toll levels.

Under the proposal, tolls for cars and taxis will be $12, motorcycles $10, minibuses $18, single-deck buses $24 and double-deck buses $30. Tolls for light, medium and heavy goods vehicles will be $12, $18 and $24.

Daily traffic flow will be around 21,000 vehicles upon the section's commissioning in 2007-08, and will gradually rise to 40,000 vehicles in 2016-17.

The bureau wants to recover from tolls the cost of providing the facility, including the cost of the public capital employed.

At present, the Government's cost of capital for tolled roads is 8.4%, with the capital cost of the Sha Tin to Cheung Sha Wan section estimated at $5.8 billion. Under the proposed toll regime, average return on average net fixed asset will be -1.5% in the first 10 years after its commissioning, reaching -0.2% for the first 20 years.

It is estimated that motorists travelling from Sha Tin to Tsim Sha Tsui via the Tsing Sha Control Area will save 15 minutes and fuel.