TNAG-0564-FCO40-659-Construction-of-an-underground-railway-system-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 66

CONFIDENTIAL

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XCC(75)45

4

....

2.

Honourable Members will note that this memorandum is being submitted to them in advance of the advice they will be asked to give in September on whether to proceed with the construction of the Modified Initial System of the MTR in the light of the result of the first contract tenders and the likely availability of finance and the in- dications these will provide of the system's financial viability. The reason for this is that, as the inclusion or exclusion of property development on appropriate sites will affect the assessment of the railway's viability, it will be essential in making the calculations to know whether this element should or should not be included. In other words, a positive decision on property development at this stage will still be subject to the final decision on whether to proceed or not with the project.

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5

(a)

(b)

This memorandum accordingly seeks:

acceptance of the general principles which should guide the grant of land, and interests in land, to the future Mass Transit Railway Corporation;

approval of the basic terms of grant to the Corporation by private treaty for comprehensive development of three of the four sites mentioned in Annex A, namely, the station sites at Pedder/Chater (the General Post Office Building site) Admiralty, and Argyle (the old Mong Kok Police Station site); and

(c)

approval in principle of the grant to the

B

Corporation by private treaty of the fourth site, namely, the Kowloon Bay Depot, for compre-

hensive development to be detailed at a later date.

Principles to be adopted in respect of land grants to the future Mass Transit Railway

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The principles proposed for grants of land, and interests in land, to the future Mass Transit Railway Corporation are set out in Annex B. In general, they follow principles applicable to grants to a private profit making utility undertaking, but take account of the needs for the Corporation to acquire special interests in land, such as wayleaves, individual shares in buildings, etc and the need to maxi- mise the revenue on sites required for Mass Transit purposes. The attention of Honourable Members is specifically invited to the following points:

C.S. 166

CONFIDENTIAL

機密