RESTRICTED
FM BTC HONG KONG
TO PRIORITY DTI
TELNO OTTER 99
OF 100725Z MAY 90
INFO PRIORITY FCO
RESTRICTED
HKC 18212
RECEIVER "
15 MAY 1990
ж
32
100604.
MDLIAN 9937
FOR PEP
MY TELNO OTTER 97:
HONG KONG AIRPORT PROJECT
1. THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT HAVE ANNOUNCED THAT GREINER OF THE USA
HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE CONTRACT TO DRAW UP A MASTER PLAN FOR THE NEW
AIRPORT. THE CONTRACT IS WORTH APPROXIMATELY HKD100 MILLION. THEY ARE EXPECTED TO START WORK IN JULY. ALL THREE OF THE CONTENDERS IN THE LAST ROUND WERE AMERICAN. THIS FOLLOWED THE SHORT LISTING OF EIGHT COMPANIES FOR THIS CONTRACT LAST YEAR OF WHICH FIVE WERE AMERICAN AND THE OTHERS WERE DUTCH, FRENCH AND JAPANESE. NO BRITISH COMPANIES WERE SHORTLISTED EVEN AT THIS STAGE.
2.
CONSULTANTS
ASSOCIATED WITH GREINER IN THIS BID ARE MAUNSELL ASIA, THE HONG KONG BRANCH OF THE BRITISH FIRM, ALTHOUGH IN HONG KONG THEY HAVE A MIX OF BRITISH AND AUSTRALIAN ORIENTATION. MAUNSELL EXPECT THEIR SHARE OF THE WORK IN THIS FIRST STAGE TO BE ROUGHLY 30 PERCENT, PERHAPS INCREASING LATER AS THEY GET ON TO RECLAMATION WORK WHICH IS THEIR MAIN STRENGTH. (MAUNSELL ALSO RECENTLY WON THE CONSULTANCY FOR THE CENTRAL WANCHAI RECLAMATION: ALTHOUGH THIS IS NOT DIRECTLY LINKED WITH THE AIRPORT PROJECT THE RAIL TERMINAL AND POSSIBLY THE THIRD HARBOUR CROSSING ENTRANCE, BOTH PROVIDING THE LINKS TO THE AIRPORT, WILL BE ON THIS RECLAIMED LAND). AS INDICATED IN PARA 2 OF MY TELNO OTTER 92, OTHER BRITISH COMPANIES (MVA, BALFOURS, HRI AND J L PRESTON) ALL FEATURE IN THE GREINER GROUP AS SUBCONTRACTORS WITH RELATIVELY SMALL SHARES.
3.
THUS THE FIRST TWO MAIN CONTRACTS IN THIS PROJECT HAVE GONE TO AMERICAN FIRMS. NEVERTHELESS MAUNSELL'S POSITION AND THAT OF THE OTHER SUBCONTRACTORS ENSURES THAT THERE WILL BE A RESPECTABLE
AMOUNT OF WORK FOR THE UK EVEN ALTHOUGH THE BRITISH ELEMENT IN THIS GROUP IS NOT AS LARGE AS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IN SOME OF THE OTHERS. AT A LATE STAGE OF THE NEGOTIATIONS GREINER AND MAUNSELL FORMALISED THEIR RELATIONSHIP INTO A JOINT VENTURE WHICH SHOULD ALSO STRENGTHEN MAUNSELL'S HAND.
4.
DOUBTLESS THE ANGLO JAPANESE CONSTRUCTION GROUP WILL FIND IT
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