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Study Direction1.2.7 The consultants were directed in their work by the Commissioner for Transport'srepresentative who was nominated as the Assistant Commissioner for Planning andResearch. Normally, these duties were delegated to the Chief Engineer of CTSDivision.1.2.8 A Working Group was formed to provide detailed guidance to the Study team, tofacilitate the exchange of information, and to monitor progress on the Study. Thisgroup, including representatives from ail concerned Departments of Government,normally met each month.1.2.9 A Steering Group was also formed to provide guidance to the Study on all policymatters and to consider the Study findings and recommendations. Like the WorkingGroup, the Steering Group normally met each month.1.2.10 The composition of the Working and Steering Groups is given in Annex 1.1.Relationship to Other Studies1.2.11 Such is the pace of"development of Hong Kong that several other studies are nowunderway which will have significant implications for transport strategy. Thisunderlines the continuous nature of transport planning in Hong Kong and emphasisesthe need for regular review and updating of transport plans. The aims and status ofthe major studies are discussed below.1.2.12 Port and Airport Development Strategy (PADS)—A series of studies wereundertaken in the late 1970s/early 1980s on the possible relocation of the airportfrom its current site at Kai Tak. These culminated in the preparation of a masterdevelopment plan for a new airport at Chek Lap Kok on the northern side of Lantau.However, the project was shelved early in 1983 for financial and economic reasons.1.2.13 The Territorial Development Strategy (TDS) study which helps determine futureurban development maintained the concept of a relocated airport, but the earliesttiming was considered to be some time after 2001. Accordingly, the CTS-2 Studyassumed that no change of airport would be made within the planning periodcovered by the Study.1.2.14 Thinking has developed further since the start of CTS-2, and several studies ofairport capacity and relocation are now underway. The central study is the Port andAirport Development Strategy (PADS) which is evaluating alternative sites for anew airport in the general area of the Western Harbour and Lantau, together with theneeds for new port facilities. Based on the findings of the PADS and various airportstudies, Government is expecting to make decisions by the end of 1989 on therelocation of the airport. These would have major long term implications for thelocation and timing of new transport links in the Territory. In order to gain someindication of the impact of a new airport on the CTS-2 transport strategy, somesensitivity tests were undertaken and these are reported later in Chapter 10. While itwould be wrong to pre-judge the findings of PADS, it does seem that an airportrelocated strategy could have many features in common with the overall strategyrecommended by CTS-2, since both require transport links on the west side of theexisting urban area.1.2.15 Reclamation Studies—Three large land reclamations are planned in the main urbanarea; Central and Wan Chai, Green Island and West Kowloon. Together with othersmaller reclamations, these projects could accommodate some 400 000 persons, aswell as a large expansion of commercial and office buildings.1.2.16 It is necessary to establish the feasibility and costs of these reclamations. Manyaspects have to be investigated; for example, all would affect the movement ofwater through the harbour and this might have serious environmental or port andshipping implications which must be weighed carefully. To investigate the technicalissues and development potentials for each reclamation more thoroughly, detailedfeasibility studies are now underway. The Central and Wan Chai Study is expectedto report in early 1989, with the other two studies reporting later in the year.17