'Cruise passengers will welcome Kai Tak monorail'
The head of the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal on Wednesday welcomed a government plan to build a monorail in East Kowloon, saying it would be popular with passengers and help keep the terminal accessible in the event of an accident on the single road leading to the facility.  Jeff Bent, managing director of Worldwide Cruise Terminals, made the comment on RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme a day after the government announced plans for what it called a green elevated transit system for the fast-developing neighbourhood. The route will transfer passengers from the terminal to the Kai Tak MTR Station in about ten minutes, with stops including the Kai Tak Sports Park, where a 50,000-seat stadium is due to open next year. Bent told RTHK's Hong Kong Today programme that the line would help if there's a traffic accident that blocks the way to the terminal, as happened last summer. And he said the route would be ideal for passengers who don't have a lot of luggage with them. " I think it will be helpful for local people going on a cruise with short itineraries, meaning they don't have much luggage. It'll be useful for residents of the district, of course, and visitors, say, to the rooftop garden.  "And it'll be useful for overseas passengers who are on a port of call, meaning its an intermediate stop for them, they're not bringing luggage on and off the ship but they just want to get into the city fairly easily and navigate around." The government said on Tuesday that it hoped to put the project out to tender in 2026, with contracts to be awarded the following year. Building a transit network for Kai Tak has been under discussion for many years. In 2020, the government dropped the idea of constructing a monorail system to link the Kai Tak Development Area with Kowloon Bay and Kwun Tong, citing cost concerns. Federation of Trade Unions lawmakers called on Tuesday for the new transit system to be extended to Yau Tong and Choi Hung stations.