XN000022-1994-08-05 — Page 17

FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 1994

15

EXHIBITION ON ACP PROJECTS OPENS IN LOK FU

THE FIRST IN A SERIES OF EXHIBITIONS SHOWING THE THE AIRPORT CORE PROGRAMME (ACP) PROJECTS OPENED AT CENTRE IN KOWLOON TODAY (FRIDAY).

LOK

PROGRESS

OF

FU SHOPPING

THE EXHIBITIONS

10 IN ALL

-

ARE DESIGNED TO KEEP THE PUBLIC ABREAST OF THE PROGRESS BEING MADE IN ACP WORKS.

EXHIBITIONS WILL BE STAGED AT VARIOUS LOCATIONS THROUGHOUT HONG KONG ISLAND, KOWLOON AND THE NEW TERRITORIES BETWEEN NOW AND FEBRUARY. MOST OF THEM WILL RUN FOR THREE DAYS.

·

OFFICIATING AT THE OPENING CEREMONY, THE DIRECTOR OF THE NEW AIRPORT PROJECTS CO-ORDINATION OFFICE, MR BILLY LAM, SAID 59 MAJOR CONTRACTS WORTH ABOUT $50.6 BILLION HAD BEEN AWARDED SO FAR UNDER THE ACP.

-

THE CONTRACTS LET BY THE GOVERNMENT, PROVISIONAL AIRPORT AUTHORITY, MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY CORPORATION AND WESTERN TUNNEL COMPANY - HAD PARTICIPANTS FROM COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE.

HARBOUR

"TAKING THE LEAD ARE COMPANIES FROM JAPAN (27 PER CENT BY VALUE), FOLLOWED BY HONG KONG (20 PER CNET), THE UK (14 PER CENT), THE NETHERLANDS (11 PER CENT), CHINA (8 PER CENT), AND OTHERS LIKE BELGIUM, AUSTRALIA, ITALY, GERMANY AND SOUTH AFRICA, HE SAID.

**

CENT), FRANCE (7 PER THE USA, NEW ZEALAND,

HELPED TO DRIVE DOWN BEST

THE KEEN INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION HAD THE COST OF THE ACP AND TO ENSURE THAT HONG KONG WAS GETTING THE "VALUE FOR MONEY" IN ITS TENDERS.

THE

"BECAUSE OF OUR FAIR AND OPEN TENDER SYSTEM, TOGETHER WITH VERY RIGOROUS COST CONTROL MECHANISM WE HAVE ADOPTED, WE WERE ABLE ΤΟ REDUCE THE COST ESTIMATES FOR THE ACP, IN THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR, FROM $163.7 BILLION TO $158.2 BILLION," HE ADDED.

WORLD'S BUSIEST

NOTING THAT KAI TAK RANKED AS ONE OF THE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS, MR LAM SAID HAVING A NEW AND MODERN AIRPORT WOULD HELP TO MAINTAIN HONG KONG'S POSITION AS THE REGIONAL AVIATION HUB AND A WORLD INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS CENTRE.

HE REFERRED TO THE NINE OTHER PROJECTS IN THE ACP, INVOLVING A SERIES OF ROADS, A RAILWAY, BRIDGES, TUNNELS, A NEW TOWN AND RECLAMATION OF LAND FOR MUCH NEEDED COMMERCIAL, RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTS.

AND

WILL

"THESE PROJECTS WILL NOT ONLY SUPPORT THE NEW AIRPORT BUT ALSO FORM AN INDISPENSABLE PART OF OUR INFRASTRUCTURAL DEVELOPMENTS WHICH WILL UNDERPIN HONG KONG'S CONTINUING ECONOMIC GROWTH INTO THE NEXT CENTURY, HE SAID.

MR LAM SAID THE PROJECTS WERE PROCEEDING WELL IN TERMS OF PROGRAMMES AND BUDGET OBJECTIVES ALTHOUGH FINANCING AGREEMENT ON THE AIRPORT AND THE AIRPORT RAILWAY HAD YET TO BE REACHED.

"BASED ON THE PROGRESS SO FAR, WE ARE CONFIDENT THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO COMPLETE THE 10 ACP PROJECTS TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT POSSIBLE BY MID-1997 IN A COST-EFFECTIVE MANNER."

/THE EXHIBITION