Mr Wiford
Royl
n. Butter EID.
RECEIVED IN REGISTRY No. 07
20 JUL 1/3
144
مباد
138
HONG KONG MASS TRANSIT PROJECT
Flag A 1. ECGD have sent the attached letter and minute to the Treasury
about their meetings in Hong Kong at the end of June. I under-
stand from ECGD that all 4 consortia offered a price range about
50% above the original consultants' figures. The Hong Kong
negotiators were not disturbed about this and appeared to be
content with the technical presentations of all the consortium
bidders. They appear to have taken a preliminary decision in
favour of the consortium approach. The only financial points
remaining to be sorted out at this stage are those set out in
Mr Coterill's letter.
TIMING
2.
The consortia have been asked to reply on these points
before the second or third week on July, with a view to a
decision by Executive Council at the end of July, first to go
for the consortium approach, and second to reduce the field to
2 or 3 chosen consortia. Further discussions will proceed with
these chosen few during the summer with a view to a decision by
the end of September and the signing of a letter of intent by
1 October.
FROBLEMS
3. The main hitch with the UK bid of which the Hong Kong
Government is aware, is that a split has become apparent between
the civil engineering and mechanical halves of the British
/consortium.