The Chief Executive in Council's authorisation of the MTR West Island Line has been gazetted, the Transport & Housing Bureau says.

The Government is assessing the financial proposals by the MTR Corporation and will submit the funding application to the Legislative Council's Public Works Subcommittee and Finance Committee as soon as possible. Subject to funding approval, construction will start in mid-2009.

The railway project will create 2,500 jobs during construction in the next few years and another 2,500 jobs during the operation stage.

More convenience

The railway will involve the extension of the existing MTR Island Line from Sheung Wan to Kennedy Town with two intermediate stations at Sai Ying Pun and the University of Hong Kong.

The journey time for the 3km trip, which normally takes up to 25 minutes by road during rush hours, will be slashed to less than eight minutes. It will take only 14 minutes from Kennedy Town to Tsim Sha Tsui.

The economic benefits including time saving over 40 years of the operation of the line is estimated to be $44 billion at 2006 prices after netting the operation costs.

As the stations at Sai Ying Pun and near the University of Hong Kong are deep underground, fast and high capacity lifts will be provided to convey passengers to and from the station concourses to the Western Mid-level areas.