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at the time it signed the Letter of
Intent and that they could not now be
surmounted. At a meeting held in
November 1974 the Consortium asked for
a revision of the price ceiling from
$5 billion to $6 billion together with
provision for price escalation.
3.
The Provisional Authority
could not accept this request. It
holds the view that the Consortium
should have been able to assess the
effects of the oil crisis on Japan's
economy during the period between the
Hong Kong Government s acceptance of
its pre-emptive bid (11th December 1973)
and the time it signed a Letter of
Intent (15th February 1974). The
Consortium could have withdraw from
negotiations both during and after
this period but the fact remains that
it did not intimate its withdrawal
until mid-December 1974.
4.
The Provisional Authority
therefore considers that the Consortium
has committed an error in judgement
which will result in Hong Kong
suffering a year's delay in building
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