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Provisional Airport Authority Annual Report

Following is the speech by the Financial Secretary, the Hon Sir Hamish Macleod, on the Provisional Airport Authority Annual Report in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):

Mr President,

In accordance with section 10 of the Provisional Airport Authority Ordinance, the Annual Report and audited accounts of the Provisional Airport Authority for the year ending 31 March 1995 are tabled today. As in previous years, the Report contains a detailed review of the Authority's activities covering events up to June this year.

The Report details further intense activity by the Authority in the development of Hong Kong's new airport. Good progress has been made in construction, operational planning and negotiation with private sector investors on the provision of essential airport support services. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board, the management and the staff of the Authority for their very hard work over the

year.

The year under review also saw a number of positive developments on the institutional arrangements under discussion between the British and the Chinese sides of the Airport Committee of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group. These include the agreement reached on overall financing, the arrangement for the granting of the airport island to the Authority, the Airport Authority Bill and, recently, the very welcome agreement on the Financial Support Agreement for the airport and air cargo franchises.

The resumption of the Second Reading debate on the Airport Authority Bill is now scheduled for 19 July. I very much hope that the Bill will be supported by Members, which will mean that this Report will in fact be the last one issued by the provisional body. More importantly, with the enactment of the Airport Authority Ordinance, the Authority will be able to keep up the momentum of work.

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