Islands District Councillor and DAB vice-chairman Holden Chow has called on the MTR Corp to bring forward the construction of the Tung Chung East station to align with the timetable for building new apartments.

Under the current timetable, the first residents will start moving into the Tung Chung East Development in 2023, but the new MTR station won’t be completed until 2026.

Chow said the construction of the third runway would bring many work opportunities, including for local residents, and the most effective way to ensure they could take advantage of these would be to connect airport island and TC directly.

He said the MTR was studying the idea of adding an extra Tung Chung Line station to connect to the airport and urged the government or the MTR to release their findings, RTHK reports.

Reclamation work on the Tung Chung East project is due to start by the end of the year.

The CEDD plans to build 40,800 apartments in Tung Chung East and another 8,600 in Tung Chung West. It has forecast that Tung Chung East will accommodate an 119,000 people.

Tung Chung development forecasts (Source: Legco Public Works Subcommittee)