opening of the rail tunnel, to be held by the rail company
with a capital of $350 million. It is also important to
note that the Consortium met the target for the Mass
Transit Railway Corporation's lease payments and these
will be less than the projected net incremental revenue.
The Consortium is contractually obligated to complete
construction within 3-1/2 years.
7.
Sir, I have dealt in some detail with the
background and the civil contractual aspects of this Bill
because I think it relevant to record that the competition
for this vital new link in the transport infrastructure
was intense and that the negotiated deal is satisfactory
and beneficial for the people of Hong Kong. The only
costs to Government of this project are those for a small
engineering supervision team, which has been set up by
redeployment within Highways Department and the provision
of land on which the tunnel and the approach roads rest,
for which all clearance and compensation costs will be
borne by the Consortium. Hence, this project will be
built at minimal cost to Government. Indeed, when it
makes a profit appropriate dividends will accrue to public
revenue.