TNAG-1060-FCO40-1310-Mass-Transit-Railway-in-Hong-Kong-1981 — Page 213

A

COMMERCIAL IN CONFIDENCE

Enti

British Trade Commission in Hong Kong 9th Floor Gammon House 12 Harcourt Road Hong Kong

Mail Address PO Box No 528 Hong Kong

Telex HX 73031

Cable Address Uktrade Hong Kong Telephone 5-230176

D C Durie Esq

PEP Division

Department of Trade Hick 1731i

1 Victoria Stre

LONDON SWI

Pl. resubmit

with comment

I have asked DOT for details of ECO 173/2(A) 9.

Ion

Your reference

Our reference

RECEIVED IN REGISTRY NO. 51

Date

12 JAN1981

DESK OFFICER

2 January 1981

Sea

MAS

INDEX

Dear David

No

PA MS

Ahizzl

MAS

19

THE MASS TRANSIT RAILWAY CORPORATION (MTRC) THE ISLAND LINE

-

In the course of the last two months I have tried to keep Christopher Benjamin up-to-date with the manoeuvring which has taken place in Hong Kong between supporters and opponents of the Island Line. As you will have seen from our telegram Eiser 55, the Hong Kong Government took the plunge on 23 December and announced the go-ahead. An excellent report by Kevin Rafferty on the broad scope of the project appeared in the Financial Times on December 24.

2.

I subsequently received from Eric Black, the Managing Director of the Mass Transit Railway, a copy of "The Island Line Proposal" which formed the background to the paper which was submitted to the Hong Kong Government Executive Council. It outlines the kind of thinking which the Mass Transit Corporation will have to put into effect in the next few months. A copy is on its way to Christopher but I have now had an opportunity to read the document and to have a preliminary discussion with Eric. I hope that the following comments will help you to interest major British civil engineering firms in the opportunities which the new project presents.

3. As you will see from figures 20-23 (to be found after page 21 towards the end of the document under reference), construction firms will be invited to pre-qualify for the 11 or 12 major tunnelling contracts starting from as early as April 1981. Advertisements to this effect will be placed in major European newspapers (including the Financial Times) next week. The first three pre-tender bids will be invited for the construction of shafts to the Admiralty East, Victoria Park and Tai Koo stations with a whole host of pre- qualification bids being required for the tunnelling contracts from end of June 1981 onwards. The main tunnelling contracts will be awarded from late 1981 to early 1982 as forecast in our draft EIS notice.

4. The philosophy of station development for the new Island Line is discussed on pages 14 to 18 of the proposal document. I took the opportunity of lunch with Eric Black on 31 December to enquire how the Mass Transit Railway Corporation would supervise the project given that in some cases individual contracts for station construction

/would