The significance of the opening of Hong Kong subway

Rail transit construction all over the world generally faces two major problems: the shortage of construction funds and the loss of operation. Hong Kong implements "land-based iron support", and the PPP mode of rail projects combined with property development makes Hong Kong Metro one of the few profitable rail transit institutions in the world.

The evolution of MTR's "property+track" development model can be divided into three stages:

(1) Initial development (1980s): Development subsidy by using own space.

Hong Kong Metro 1979 opens to traffic. Initially, it mainly covers urban lines, and the government still needs to inject capital through loans. Real estate development can hardly be used as the main source to support debt repayment and operating income subsidy construction. Due to the lack of land resources in Hong Kong, the MTR has made full use of the land occupied by the track construction area to develop rolling stock depots (such as Telford Garden in Kowloon Bay and Lvyang New Village in Tsuen Wan) and superstructure (such as Southorn Garden in Wan Chai and World Tower in Central). Property sales and rental income are used to subsidize the operation funds of rail transit construction, and at the same time, it is further used for the development of superstructure, strengthening passenger flow along the line and ensuring operating income. On the other hand, before 200 1 year, MTR 100% was owned by the government. However, due to commercial principles, the government carefully analyzed the financial situation of the MTR, revised the initial network planning, cancelled some sections with lower expected benefits when implementing the construction, and strengthened the benefits of rail transit in the initial construction. [For example, the western section of Hong Kong Island Line and east kowloon line (now Shazhong Line) were planned as early as 1970 and included in the initial network construction. However, after evaluating the composition of residents and the aging of the population in these areas, the project was delayed until 20 10, and the project was gradually funded by the government. The western section of Hong Kong Island Line is at 20 14 12. ]

(2) Rapid development period (1990' s): creating value through the integration of new lines and newly developed areas.

With the great-leap-forward expansion of the city promoted by the Hong Kong Airport Core Plan, a lot of construction funds are needed. The government transferred the land reclamation agreement to the MTR, and let the MTR participate in the preliminary planning study of new development areas (such as East Chung and West Kowloon reclamation), and actively adopted the development mode of integrating the new line station with the land, including the integration of the land and the station, designing a seamless pedestrian network between the station and the surrounding communities, and strengthening the land value created by the subway flow, thus supporting the development of the MTR in the Airport Express Line and Tung Chung through land appreciation income. This model is also used for railway development along Tseung Kwan O and Ma On Shan new towns.

(3) Maturity (2000s): Long-term sustainable development in stages to maximize the land value.

After the rapid development of the railway network, the passenger flow increased and the market development along the line gradually matured. The MTR will gradually develop the land reserved by the previous railway network in stages in 10-20 years. In order to maximize the value of land and create higher profit targets through the cultivation of people flow and business opportunities. Such as 1998, the superstructure of Kowloon Station of Airport Railway, which was opened to traffic, was fully developed, and the housing was initially developed, which hatched the market potential and popularity. In the case of mature development and high demand for commercial real estate, commercial facilities such as hotels and shopping malls began to be built in 2005, and the World Trade Center ICC- Kowloon with a height of 1 12 was developed in 20/2. The whole project includes high-end functions such as Grade A office building, six-star hotel and skyline observation deck, and the rental unit price of Grade A office building is the highest in Kowloon.