Express rail link delays ; Hong Kong's own press freedom index ; City of debt

Hong Kong's HK$67 billion express rail link between Hong Kong and Guangzhou was already said to be the most expensive ever built in per kilometer terms. Well, now it looks as if it's going to be even more expensive. And if you're considering a journey on the new railway, plan to wait longer. Suspicions that completion of the express rail link would be delayed surfaced as early as last year. The project was initially planned to be completed in 2015, but it was not until last week that the government admitted there'd be a delay of at least two years. On Wednesday this week, Tomas Brunegrd, the president of the World Association of Newspapers, told an international conference in Hong Kong that he was concerned about the decline of press freedom in the city. In February, Reporters Without Borders ranked Hong Kong 61st for press freedom worldwide, a long way below its 18th place in 2002. And this week, the Hong Kong Journalists' Association announced a new Hong Kong Press Freedom Index, and the news was not reassuring. With us in the studio is the HKJA's Mak Yin-ting. Last week, we reported on what's been called China's largest ghost town, the Kangbashi New Area development, which is part of Ordos City in Inner Mongolia. There was a property bubble. It burst. But the cost is more than empty buildings and abandoned construction projects. Some 90% of the residents of Ordo.
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