OCT 03 '86 16:45 TIBCOOU) HK GOVT
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According to media reports, a representative of the Guangaung Nuclear Power JVC based in Peking said yesterday that the limit of investment for the Daya Bay project would be raised from the original HK$27 billion to HK$32 billion.
The main contracts for the project would be signed in Peking tomorrow. Chinese Vice Premier Li Peng and various senior officials from the authorities and companies concerned would attend the signing ceremony.
Chairman of the HKNIC William Stones told Radio-3 this morning that he was prepared to admit that the performance of his company and the Government should have been better in providing the public with information on the project. He added that plans were in hand to improve the situation.
Linda Siddall of Friends of the Earth said there was a conspiracy of silence on the part of the authorities concerned right from the beginning.
She added that the wat over the nuclear plant had not been ended as it could still be scrapped even if it was fully built.
Wan Wei Po and the HK Commercial Daily praised Legco member Richard Lai for his remarks and called on the people of HK to follow his advice and be sensible over the Daya Bay project.
The HK Daily News argued that the people of HK had the right to ask for a longer period of guarantee on the price of electricity to be supplied from Daya Bay.
Sing Pao said there was a need for more people here to be knowledgeable in nuclear energy, otherwise participation in the monitoring of the nuclear plant would be so much empty talks.
The Express said it would not come as a surprise if some members of the Legco nuclear fact-finding delegation would become "lobbyists" for China and the Daya Bay plant.
Yú Kam-yin of the HK Economic Journal said that the anti-nuclear coalition decided to hold a mass rally at Morse Park on October 5 well after the signing of the Daya Bay contracts because the moderate faction won out in a struggle with th militant faction. The moderate faction pushed for the October 5 date because they said no rally could be organised earlier than that. They even threatened to pull out of the coalition if their proposal was rejected.
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