Road works at the KCR Kowloon Terminus 1

There was a story I heard that the cost of construction of Route Twisk was cut down considerably by the narrowing of the road by a few inches each side, and someone pocketed the proceeds. How true is it , do you know?

In the 1960s and probably well before that and even after, it was common for road-works contractors to deviate from contract specifications on trenchwork and similar works not to dig as deep as required. Thereby water & gas-pipes-electricity cables etc would be installed quite near the road surface. No doubt money or favours changed hands

Then road resufacing burning machines arrived with overseas specialist contractors to effeciently and quickly removed worn road surfaces of old tar, tire-rubber and oil redsidues before renewing the road surfaces. These firey "Dragons" generated a lot of smoke/flames and heat and tended to roast whatever utilities were just a few inches below the road surfaces instead of the specified few feet below and so caused major disruptions to utility services.

If Contractors' can devise a short-cut to save their costs and increase their profits they will.