6. Commercial statistics for the period October 1980
September 1981 are attached at Annex 5.
7. The Outlook
It is evident from the performance of the last five years
that British industry is now taking a greater interest in the Hong
Kong market. Following hard on the heels of consulting engineers
several British civil engineering contractors, drawn earlier in
the decade to the massive business opportunities in the Middle
East, have been renewing their interest in Hong Kong. Expansion
of the underground railway has been the centre of attraction but
publicity given in the UK to the GEC/Babcock successes with the
Castle Peak Power Station has alerted others to the opportunities
in the market.
British exports to Hong Kong resulting from the power
station contract at Castle Peak will be reflected in trade figures
throughout most of the '80s. And hoped-for further successes
in the Mass Transit Railway Corporation's Island Line project
and perhaps more rolling stock for the Kowloon-Canton railway
should also make their contribution felt in the next 3-4 years.
By the spring of 1983, the Hong Kong Government expects to
decide on whether, and if so where, to build a replacement airport
(HK$9,000 million). An island-hopping fixed crossing from
Lantao to Kowloon, involving the world's biggest suspension bridge
is also under consideration. Programmes have also begun, or are
in the planning stages, for developing more new towns, hospitals
and clinics, sewage treatment works and water distribution.
And in this land-conscious territory, where real estate developers strive to maximise the return on their property investment,
buildings will continue to come down to make way for bigger (which usually means taller) and more sophisticated constructions.
Add to this a young and affluent population, increasingly
orientated/.............
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