sir,.
STATEMENT BY THE HONOURABLE THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY
IN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 14TH FEBRUARY 1973
1.
I also
On 7th June last year, I announced in this Council that the
Government had taken a decision in principle to proceed with the
construction of the full Mass Transit Railway, subject to satisfactory
arrangements being made for financing it and for letting contracts.
announced then that the Governor had appointed a small Steering Group
to work out the best methods of resolving three important and closely
inter-related problems, so as to enable a final decision to be taken
whether or not to go ahṣad. These three problems concerned:
first
and foremost, the availability of
sufficient outside capital on
appropriate terms as regards interest
rates and repayment arrangements;
Secondly
the form of tendering and the letting
of contracts; and
Thirdly the most appropriate operational arrangements.
After more than six months of intensive investigation, the
Steering Group has come to the conclusion that it should be possible
to raise the capital required for constructing the full Mass Transit
Railway, from a combination of several sources, and on terms which, by
present indications, are likely to be acceptable. This conclusion, in
turn,has strengthened the Government's belief that the system would be
financially viable, in the sense that a sufficient cash flow would be
generated to enable the capital cost and accumulated interest to be
"
/repaid ......