TNAG-1039-FCO40-1289-Future-of-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 19

China Resources Company Limited has a 51% equity in the project so far. As a Chinese State organisation, its involvement in the Tin Shui Wai project will, to some degree, be seen to be significant in the eyes of the public and investors, particularly because of the size of the project and its location. Present plans envisage development of the project continuing beyond the expiry of..the New Territories lease in 1997. On the other hand, it is known that China Resources participation is motivated entirely by commercial rather than by political reasons. Equally, it would not be in China's interests for the Government of Hong Kong to become locked into a long-term project which could drain invest- ment away from other priorities to the detriment of the economy. On balance, it is considered that the political pros and cons, whilst important, should not be the deciding factor relative to economic and planning considerations.

Conclusions and Recommendations.

57

that:-

(a)

(b)

'(c)

(d)

(e)

From the Government's point of view, it ŝi considered

Du

the 488 hectares owned by the developers could, at the appropriate time, be the initial focus of comprehensive development in the North West New Territories (paragraph 49);

10

the site would need to be replanned to fit within the preferred development strategy for the North West New Territories, the consultant's report on which should be ready by July (paragraph 49);

in order to achieve the public housing policy target of 35,000 flats per annum post 1985/86 and to take account of needs for private housing, the formation of additional land and the production of new housing stock for 100,000 persons over the period 1985/1990 would seem desirable. For this it would be necessary to commence engineering works in 1982 in order to have new sites coming on stream by 1984 (paragraph 24);

in the context of the points made in (c) above, the formation of land at Tin Shui Wai would be relatively easy from an engineering point of view (paragraph 4);

if only Phase 1 of the project were to proceed, a premature investment of $1,000 million would be required for new highways and $200 million for public transport. This level of expenditure would be over and above that required to satisfy natural population growth in the North-West New Territories by 1991 (paragraph 30);

CONFIDENTIAL

機密