BUSINESS NEWS (SCMP) TUES 24 MARCH, 1973 ·
Giant Italian group
bids for tube project
BY THE FINANCIAL EDITOR
Δ dark horse in the race to clinch the major work involved in Hongkong's proposed $7,000 underground railway is making a determined late run on the rails it is the giant Italian Intermetro group.
A very senior negotiator for the Italian company, Mr M. Piccagli, left the Colony for Washington last weekend after two days of
and secret, seemingly fruitful, talks with the Financial Secretary, Mr Philip Haddon-Cave, and important members of the Government's
Steering Committee on the tube.
Any doubts that the Intermetro concern lacks the financial muscle or the expertise to do the job evaporate when we look at the names which make up the consortium.
are
They include Fiat, Instituto Mobialare Italiano (IMI), Breda Ferroviaria who noted engineers, Impresit, one of the biggest public works contractors in Europe, and La Centrale Finanziaria Generale.
The whole set
up comes under the Italian state umbrella IRI which is the overlord of the country's major manufacturers, particularly in the export field.
Intermetro was formed as recently as 1969 to carry out research. design and
con- struction of rail and other guided transport systems well as allied activities in the industrial, commercial and financial fields.
as
now
Some of its members are old hands in the mass transit field and Intermetro is even carrying out the work of extending Rome's hard press- ed underground system.
The physical problem of pushing tube lines under Italy's capital City are probably even more complicated than those which will confront the engineers given the job in Hongkong.
It seems that virtually every few yards the tunnellers strike yet another ancient heritage of Rome's past which they are then obliged to go around, above or under.
As far as I can discover the Italian proposals are on a go it- alone basis and no serious pow- wows have been held in the Colony pointing to a joint
venture.
But this was the original nationalistic stance adopted by the British consortium, represented here by Hutchison International, which has already indicated that it would not be totally averse to some sort of package partnership.
The mind boggling sums of money involved in our tube project and the deepest pos- sible political significance attached to it have draped the
affair with a cloak and dagger atmosphere.
Last week the Secretary of the U.K. Export Credits Guarantee Department, Mr Robert Fell, was in Hongkong. He stayed at the Mandarin Hotel a fact consistently denied by the switchboard and public relations people who had no "Fell" registered.
The British official flew to Tokyo after his talks here, but again checks of the passenger manifests of the major airlines failed to confirm the fact.
While Mr Fell was in Tokyo it is more than possible that he had some contacts with Mr. Yasuhiro Nakasone, who heads up the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).
This body embraces everything from the International Trade Bureau, the Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, and the Heavy Industry Bureau to the mines safety office.
No statement was issued to the press and Mr Fell is now back in London.
To recap on the mass transit drama: Dispensing with the welter of tin-pot companies which succeeded in conning the press into granting. them editorial space on the basis that they were bidding for the thing
supported by unspecified backers the high-class field comes down to five..
.
Intermetro, who have
never, courted publicity but have been somewhat hurt by being overlooked,
Mitsubishi's
consortium of 51 companies who are being looked after here by Jardines.
The British G.E.C./ Hutchison International and Lazard Brothers grouping.
Zung Fu's French and German affair who have been a bit quiet recently.
And lastly, the Wheelock Marden link with Mr Lawrence Kadoorie's interests forming the "Hongkong Group" which in turn is connected with the big Canadian CIPM concern who were responsible for the $1.000 million Churchill Falls power scheme.
+
The making
Italians are quietly the point that Intermetro was specifically set up to handle projects like the one under discussion and
the already has
necessary experience in Rome, possible soon in Turin and in Latin America.
+
The Hongkon Government's final "shut-the- door" decision on the proposals is due at the end of next month some say it may come carli-
er.
With at least $3,000 million as the prize for the successful bidder, there is plenty of cake to be sliced if the authorities insist that the tube work should be shared by a number of parties who can provide the necessary expertise in various areas.