Ref.
CR 10/5591/70
† 7 MAR 1973
COLONIAL SECRETARIAT,
HONG KONG.
}
Dear Sir,
7th March, 1973.
Thank you for your letter dated 2nd March, 1973. I confirm that, as arranged verbally between your representatives and the Director of Mass Transit Studies, we have set aside 19th March as the date on which the further consultations with the British Group would commence.
2.
Your request for our agreement to the British Group having prior consultations with Freeman Fox & Partners in London presents us with some difficulty. While I appreciate the logic of the mechanism described in the British Group's supplementary proposals of December, 1972, in a situation where there is a contractor or where a contract is being negotiated, to put it into operation at this stage would create difficulties for us. In particular, as I believe you will appreciate, we would have to instruct our consultants to make themselves available for dis- cussions with either all or none of the various consortia whom we have invited to the forthcoming round of consultations. The former alternative would be likely to place an undue burden on the consultants which is, in the Steering Group's view, unwarranted at this point in time. Given the timing problems involved, it would also create difficulties for those' consortia who are not in a position quickly to send teams to London to consult with Freeman Fox & Partners.
3.
The purpose of the further consultations has, I under- stand, been clearly explained to Mesore. Lever and Werden by the Deputy Economic Secretary at an informal meeting held on 2nd March, 1973. In particular, as regards para, aph 4(b) of my letter dated 15th February, what the Steering Group will seek to obtain are fairly firm indications of what the contract price is likely to be (expressed either in terms of a possible price range, or on the basis of a series of assumptions, or on some other such formula), but not a firm commitment. This infortstion would be one of the most important considerations, though by no means the only consi- deration, which would affect the Hong Kong Government's decision whether to adopt a single-contract or a multi-contract approach.
/Upon
0/- JL
e/
The Hon. Sir Douglas Clague, C.B.E.,
M.C., Q.P.M., T.D., J.P.,
Hutchison International Limited, Prince's Building,
Hong Kong.