CONFIDENTIAL
Sir L Monson
HONG KONG UNDERGROUND RAILWAY
1. You asked on 2 June if we had available in the FCO the "normal tender procedures" to which the Governor referred in
We had the last paragraph of his letter to you of 30 April. not got anything about this here and the attached copy of the Hong Kong "tender procedure" has been obtained from the Hong Kong Government Office.
2. I mentioned to you recently that the normal procedure in Hong Kong is to call for a cash price and then decide on the best tender (usually the lowest). If subsequently the Hong Kong Government decided that help was needed over the financing
of the project they would make the necessary enquiries both in London and elsewhere.
3. When he was in London recently Mr Haddon Cave told us that the Hong Kong authorities were always most careful to lay down the precise conditions on which they wished tenders to be submitted. The tender of anybody who ignored such conditions would not normally be considered. In the case of the under- ground railway the Hong Kong Government might include from the beginning financial proposals as well as technical specifications. For instance, they might stipulate, say, 12 years credit for some or all of the project under tender. According to the DTI in some countries it is the object of those calling for tenders' to acquire the best credit terms possible and this is sometimes specified as one of the conditions of the tender. I understand that the Hong Kong Government have not in the past adopted any arrangement of this kind.
16 June 1971
traria
EC Laird
Hong Kong Department
CONFIDENTIAL
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