Airport Core Programme

The Airport Core Programme (Chinese: 香港機場核心計劃) was a series of infrastructure projects centred on the new Hong Kong International Airport during the early 1990s. The programme was part of the Port and Airport Development Strategy, commonly known as the Rose Garden Project.

The cost for the whole project was estimated at over HK$200 billion, and the Chinese Government was concerned about its impact on the financial reserve of the future Hong Kong SAR Government. Several changes were made to the plan, including the shortening of the Tsing Ma Bridge and the construction of the Airport Railway as a double-track railway. The project ended up costing HK$160.2 billion (160,200,000,000).

The Programme formally commenced after the signing of a memorandum of understanding between British Prime Minister John Major and Chinese Premier Li Peng in Beijing on 3 September 1991, and lasted 8 years in total. It was the most expensive airport project in the world, according to the Guinness World Records. It was the biggest infrastructure programme in Hong Kong's history.

Plans to replace the old Kai Tak Airport were drafted after the Second World War. However, for financial and political reasons, the plan was abandoned in 1951 and the Hong Kong Government decided to expand the original airport instead.

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