200
Mr Cloake
UMCRWA
2801 (290) (20 32b
(32)
332
Fue
289
B
HONG KONG MASS RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM
1. The last month has seen the consolidation of an Anglo-Italian
consortium bid for this project, following the collapse of the
original British consortium. The Anglo-Italian group comprises
GEC (Electrical the following firms leading on the British side: and Mechanical), Costains (Construction) and Lazards (Finance).
The Italian members are led by Intermetro Spa and comprise Fiat,
IMI, Centrale Financiera Generale, Impresit, Italstat, Breda Ferroviaria and Italianci Condotte d'Acqua. 60% of the electrical
and mechanical work and 25% of the civil work will be allocated to
Britain.
2. The Anglo-Italian consortium put in a preliminary bid for the
contract which fell short on several counts. The major one being
that it proposed an escalation clause based on a price which would
not be fixed until the technical surveys are completed next April.
The Governor was sent a personal message by the Secretary of State
for Trade and Industry (FCO telegram number 1179) which confirmed
that the new group had the same financial and general support from
HMG as had the former British consortium and that we believed that
In his reply to
the new grouping would be highly competitive.
Mr Peter Walker (Hong Kong telegram no. 1322) the Governor expressed his disappointment that the bid was so poor in comparison with the pre-emptive bid already lodged by the Japanese and suggested ways
/in