In mid-May the government awarded the MTR Corporation, a railway company that is managing two large rail projects, the property development rights to two sites as a way of subsidising the projects. The two schemes are the South Island Line East and the Kwun Tong Line Extension, which are worth a combined HK$17.7bn and are due for completion by 2015. The move came after an independent study showed that the projects required financial backing from the government, with shortfalls of HK$9.9bn in the case of the South Island Line and HK$3.3bn for the Kwun Tong Extension. Property development on the Wong Chuk Hang and Valley Road Estate sites is expected to begin after 2015, with the sites likely to be sold off in the 2020s. The government insisted that all further risk relating to the rail projects rested with MTR. In addition to rail facilities and shopping malls, the bulk of development on the sites will consist of residential apartments.