HKA 182/3
CONFIDENTIAL
58
MR WALL
CC
Mr Gozney, FCO
Mr Ricketts, Hong Kong Department, FCO
10 MARCH 1992
HONG KONG AIRPORT: LANTAU FIXED CROSSING
M
Mr fox ifm 11/m
Mr Home 11/3 Дай Mr Rangers 12/3.
Par
Gordon Manzie telephoned me this afternoon to report on
the latest state of play.
He had just returned from useful discussions with the Hong Kong authorities. There were probably three companies left in the race: the Koreans (with the lowest bid), the Anglo-Japanese Consortium and then the Franch/German-led
Consortium. The last two, according to Hong Kong officials,
were neck and neck.
He would be going out for further technical talks on Friday and Saturday of this week. There would then be
similar sessions with the other two main contestants. This
would lead up to an official decision about the end of March
or early April.
He reported a misleading statement in "Construction News" quoting a director of Trafalgar House and the Anglo- Japanese group to the effect that the latter were about to land the prize. This was entirely false: no such statement had been given; and the newspaper in question had apologised. He wished us to know this and had similarly informed the
(es) ! [Deputy] Governor.
He was concerned that the Koreans were still in
the race. By now they should have been excluded on technical
grounds and lack of expertise. He was also worried that Lu
Ping's criticism of the award of the contract for the airport
terminal design to a British company might frighten the Hong
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