A. J. Lippitt, Esq., Deputy Secretary, Department of Industry, Victoria Street.
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HKK 164/1.
INDEX
"MAR 1978
No ht
51
60
"B"KOW/ESC Pt. II
20 February, 1978.
POWER STATION PROJECT.
You will shortly be receiving (indeed may have already received) a letter from Hill Stones describing his requirements for China Light & Power's new 400KW tranmission system. His letter stems from my attempts to extract the technical information requested in Alastair's telegrams Indus 33 and 41. He was clearly reluctant to let me have the "mauve document" which Alastair saw at the Carlton Towers but hopes that the details, diagrams and map now supplied will prove adequate for your immediate needs. If there are any specific questions I am sure that Bill will do his best to answer them – his letter to you was written with the formal approval of the CLP Board, spurred on I believe by the favourable editorial comment in the Electrical Times of 3 February.
2.
My main purpose in writing to you is to enquire how you intend to play the hand given that CLP have now formally requested a second DOI co-ordinated package. You will note that in his letter, Stones has suggested that HMG should conduct pre-offer tendering in order to achieve a lower cost. When I discussed this with him, he said that it was essential that our bid should again be in line with current international prices and that he saw no way in which British manufacturers could achieve this without "a similar involvement by HMG to that set-up for the generating plant". Recalling that during one of our conversations Alastair had commented that it could be difficult to run the same kind of exercise for the next stage, I asked Stones whether he had received an assurance in London on this point. He said that he had and that if HMG retreated into the background the opportunity would be lost. Hience my concern at this early stage to check that we are all working from the same basic approach.
3. I very much hope that we can give CLP a positive response. Stones has shown me in confidence capital investment figures to show that orders for UK industry for the transmission links could equal the generation plant order in value. My recollection is that the total plan involves expenditure of HK$1000 million for the 400 KW grid, HK$1500 million for 132 KW > 32 KV transmission and HK$1400 million for the low voltage 11 KV and below distribution network.
If we
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