/Merch
(a)
A joint venture including Acer and Maunsell on the airport railway feasibility study.
The bulk of the contracts awarded thus far have been for consultancy work, but some early works contracts have also been awarded. A reclamation project has been awarded to Gammon (on which Trafalgar House and Jardines have half shares), but the advanced work contract at Chek Lap Kok has gone to the Japanese (the Gammon/Costain bid was uncompetitive).
5.
There
UK interests are well represented in appointments thus far, but it is fair to say that the UK has featured disappointingly in some of the major appointments made. is some concern that US interests have acquired a strong position in relation to the award of future contracts, most obviously through the Bechtel appointment as project managers and through Morgan Stanley's appointment as overall financial advisers.
KEY FUTURE CONTRACTS/APPOINTMENTS
6.
This is a complex project with a range of infrastructure requirements, many of which would qualify as major projects in their own right. Our hope is that there will be strong UK bids for all the key elements of the work. The major elements are as follows :
(a) The Lantau Fixed Link
This is the main link from the mainland to the island on which the airport is to be constructed - almost certainly a very large bridge, designed to carry both road and rail traffic. A smaller bridge is also involved, together with extensive road links, etc.
Early planning was on the basis that the main bridge would be built as a private sector ("BOOT") project. However the HKG announced in November that they expected to proceed on a publicly funded basis. This partly reflected continuing problems with the PRC - see below para 12.
We have for over a year been backing an Anglo/Japanese consortium for the fixed link. This is led by Trafalgar House and Costains on the UK side and by Mitsui on the Japanese side. The intention was that Mitsui should be responsible for securing wider Japanese support from the other key Japanese industrial companies; but this has proved more difficult than expected. Other UK firms (such as Wimpeys, Kier and Beazer) are in touch with other consortia about separate bids.
Formal bids are likely to be invited for this contract in February 1991, with a period of some six months for bids to be submitted. At present a process of pre- qualification is in progress.