The high construction cost of Option 2 is attributed to the following factors – (a) The proposed reclamation falls on a wide stretch of Contaminated Mud Pits (CMPs). In order to contain the CMPs in-situ, a special reclamation method called “Deep Cement Mixing” would be employed and this element alone would cost HK$9.0 billion more than conventional reclamation methods. Moreover, unlike the reclamation of the existing airport island where a considerable amount of fill was obtained from the original island, the fill for the proposed reclamation under Option 2 would have to be imported from the Pearl River Delta or beyond, which would drive up the land formation cost significantly; (b) A provisional amount of 20% of the construction cost has been included to cover uncertain elements of this project given its massive scale, the innovative reclamation method adopted on a large scale, and that only preliminary engineering assessment has been done hitherto; and (c) The airport is a unique piece of infrastructure that needs to be designed to meet a whole host of stringent standards for safety, security, efficiency and service quality. It can only operate efficiently with specialist automation systems such as baggage handling and automated people mover systems. All these add up to the capital intensive investment required, particularly so for Option 2, where the operation of the third runway has to be integrated fully with the rest of the airport infrastructure to sustain the same level of airport experience. The construction cost figures above would have to be updated in due course after the statutory Environmental Impact Assessment process and preliminary design have been completed. 7 COMPARISON BETWEEN THE TWO OPTIONS CONSIDERATION 4 : FUNDING Under the Airport Authority Ordinance, we are required to conduct our business according to prudent commercial principles. We have maintained an efficient capital structure in line with comparable commercial entities. Leveraging our strong revenue base and superior credit rating, we operate with HKIA MASTER PLAN 2030 45