STATEMENT BY THE HONOURABLE THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY
IN LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ON WEDNESDAY, 1st AUGUST, 1973
Sir,
Four weeks ago, when replying to a question from mý honourable Friend Mr. James Wu, I said in this Council that the Mass Transit Steering Group was about to submit recommendations to Executive Council on a series of important and difficult questions concerning the Mass Transit Railway: including, first and foremost, .the question whether the project should be dealt with on a single-contract or multi- contract basis.
I can now report to honourable Members that, having considered the Steering Group's recommendations, the Government has decided in principle to adopt a single-
contract approach: that is to say, to award a contract to one consortium, selected by competitive negotiation, for the complete construction and equipment of the first four
stages of the Mass Transit Railway. I emphasise the words
'in principle' because an accept_able contract has yet to
be negotiated and concluded. And, to this end, the Government has decided that the Steering Group should forthwith enter into further exchanges with the four consortia who have put forward single-contract proposals, with a view to opening up actual negotiations with them and, ultimately,
to selecting one of them for the contract.
Now that the process of negotiating a contract is about to begin, honourable Members will appreciate that I cannot explain in detail the reasons underlying the Government's preference for the single-contract approach, because to do so might prejudice the Steering Group's negotiating position. But I can say that Government has concluded that the single-contract approach would be the most appropriate method of safe-guarding Hong Kong's best interests in all respects.
Sir, the task which is now facing the Steering
Group the task of securing the best possible single contract for the first four stages of the Macs Transit Railway, and
/of....