HONG KONG: The Legislative Council Finance Committee approved $66.9 billion ($8.6 billion) in funding for the controversial express rail link to Guangzhou on Saturday.

The Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Rail Link will form part of China's national high-speed rail network and allow people to travel from Hong Kong to Guangzhou in 48 minutes, just under half the amount of current journey time.

The project is expected to be finished by 2015.