HONG KONG, Oct. 10 -- Hong Kong's Chief Executive Donald Tsang said Wednesday he would push ahead with 10 large-scale infrastructure projects in the southern Chinese territory.

       "Infrastructure development can bring about huge economicbenefits," Tsang said during the first policy address since hisreelection in March, citing potential benefits in terms ofemployment and economic drive.

       The projects would create some 250,000 jobs in addition to anannual added value of more than 100 billion HK dollars (12.82billion U.S. dollars) to the economy, he said.

       Three of the 10 projects, which form a major block of thepolicy address, fell in the category of transport facilities.

       The seven-kilometer South Island Line, costing more than 7billion HK dollars (0.9 billion U.S. dollars), would furtherextend the highly developed mass transit system on Hong Kong'snamesake major island.

       The Executive Council would soon examine a proposal submittedby the MTR Corporation Limited with a view to authorizing it toproceed with engineering design, Tsang said.

       Construction work on the Sha Tin to Central Link connecting theNortheast New Territories and Hong Kong Island were expected tostart in 2010 while a third project might be completed in 2016.

       Cross-boundary infrastructure between China's special

       administrative regions of Hong Kong, Macao, and the neighboringmainland cities would improve, too, with the planned Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-MacaoBridge, the Hong Kong-Shenzhen Airport Cooperation and thedevelopment of the Lok Ma Chau Loop.

       The West Kowloon Cultural District, an often talked-aboutproject recently, was "a strategic plan to promote the long-termdevelopment of arts and culture, supporting Hong Kong as acreative economy and Asia's world city," the chief said.

       Also falling in the category of urban development plans werethe Kai Tak Development Plan aimed at turning the vast ex-airportto something of an entertainment facility, and the New DevelopmentAreas aimed at developing new towns for the densely populated city.