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"During the past three and a half years at ExCo, Mr Tung has made a whole- hearted contribution to Hong Kong. My colleagues and I at ExCo will miss him

greatly.

However, we firmly believe that whatever he does, Mr Tung will continue to work for Hong Kong in the future."

End

More transport infrastructure projects in the pipeline

The Secretary for Transport, Mr Haider Barma, said today (Monday) that Hong Kong had a lot to offer on the transport front as in other areas of business and Government activity.

Speaking at the opening of the Conference on Tunnel Management, Operation and Maintenance at the Hong Kong Convention Centre, Mr Barma said the Government believed involving the private sector would be more flexible and cost- effective.

This would free up government resources for other projects, and competition would ensure that the Government got the best value, Mr Barma said.

He said private sector partnership had been achieved through BOT (build- operate-transfer) projects, and response from them in undertaking major infrastructural projects had been extremely positive.

"We invite the private sector to build and operate new highways or tunnels through franchises which normally last for a period of 30 years, with the project then being transferred to government ownership," he said.

"Example of this are Eastern Harbour Crossing and Tate's Cairn Tunnel which together cost $5 billion.

"Under construction now is the Western Harbour Crossing, estimated to cost $7 billion and scheduled for completion by March 1997.

"And also under construction is Route 3 country park section which will provide a new superhighway from the border to the container port. The cost of this project is also estimated to be in the order of $7 billion."