TNAG-0845-FCO40-1055-Visits-of-Foreign-and-Commonwealth-officials-to-Hong-Kong-1979 — Page 93

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appointed to undertake a design and evaluation study for the modernisation programme which includes rolling stock, electrifi- cation, double tracking, station improvements, etc. They were subsequently awarded the detailed design and project supervision contract worth some £3 million. Earlier this year, the contract for the rolling stock, worth over £40 million, was awarded to

Metro-Cammell. British firms are also in the running for the

contracts for electrification of the line.

(iv) Lamma Island Power Station: Hong Kong Electric Company (HEC)

7. HEC (the second of Hong Kong's electric supply companies) switched from British to Japanese equipment in the mid-sixties. In April, a bid to recapture the market through a negotiated con- tract similar to that offered to CLP, failed when the main contract

for the company's new Lamma Island station was again awarded to a Japanese company. Tenders from British companies are however still outstanding for a number of subsidiary contracts worth over

£26 million.

(v) Other Major Projects

8. British consultancy firms are involved in work on two major projects that are likely to be started in the early 1980s: the construction of a fixed crossing between Lantau Island and the

mainland and the construction of a new international airport on

Lantau.

Hong Kong and General Department

September 1979

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