TNAG-0508-FCO40-573-Construction-of-underground-railway-system-in-Hong-Kong-1974 — Page 165

Daily Iuf" Bulleri

4

PA

MRTS.

Friday, February 8, 1974 12:0

PROVISIONAL M.T.R. AUTHORITY TO BE SET UP

KANGSA

19

Published in the government gasette today is a bill providing

for the establishment of a Mass Transit Railway Provisional Authority.

The Authority will be set up as an interim measure to continue

the work of the Mass Transit Steering Group, pending: the creation later

this year of a statutory corporation to bring the railway into operation.

The Chairman of the Provisional Authority will be the Financial

Secretary, and the membership will be the same as for the Steering Group.

A government spokesman explained today that the Provisional

Authority was a necessary step because it could exercise certain executive

powers not vested in the constitution of the Steering Group.

For instance, the Steering Group had no legal capacity to empley

staff and there was no other suitable agency of the government available

for this purpose.

The responsibilities of the Provisional Authority would cover not

only appointment of staff, but also arrangements for the supply of services

and equipment.

"Although negotiation of the contract for the construction and

equipment of the first four stages of the Mass Transit Railway will be the

responsibility of the Provisional Authority, it is not proposed that the

Authority will enter into a contractual relationship with the selected

contractor.

This will be a matter initially for the government and eventually

for the corporation," the spokesman added.

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