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He thought this would be ready by the end of March and that the Macao Government would be in a position to award a contract shortly afterwards. They wanted a company or a consortium to build and operate the airport. Groups from a number of countries had expressed an interest in doing this. There would have to be a role for Air Portugal. Mr Vasconcelos said that he had spoken to British Airports International and had encouraged them to make a bid. He said he knew that FAG were thinking of making an offer to build the airport. If they decided to do so then he would not wish them to continue as consultants. It would be essential to appoint new consultants. I reminded Mr Vasconcelos that UK organisations had great expertise in this field. He said he would be pleased to hear from any British organisations or partnerships who could take on the consultancy. Mr Vasconcelos said it would be an international airport. He thought there would be no shortage of airlines who would want to fly into Macao. I asked him about the view of the Chinese authorities. He said there was no question of Macao seeking the agreement of China but the Chinese authorities had been kept informed and had raised no objection to the proposal. They would of course inherit the airport eventually. Mr Vasconcelos said he was hoping that aircraft would be flying from the airport by 1993. confirmed that Gordon Wu, the Chairman of Hopewell Holdings, had talked to him about the airport.
He said Mr Wu had also had discussions with the authorities about the Taipa City project which Hopewell Holdings had just taken over from Trafalgar Housing. Mr Vasconcelos said he had high hopes for Taipa City. He recognised Mr Wu as a man of vision and speed and said his interest in Macao was very welcome. Mr Vasconcelos said the airport would have dual exits; one for Macao and one for Zhuhai. The Chinese authorities would be able to take their passengers by bus directly across the border. This would be possible once the new bridge was built between Taipa and Macao. Interestingly this was an arrangement that Gordon Wu told me some weeks ago he was going to propose to the Macao authorities. Mr Vasconcelos said the small port development that would be adjacent to the airport (between Taipa and Coloanne) would also be offered to the private sector to construct and develop. He hoped that invitations would go out by the end of 1988. He said the incineration station would have to be a public development. Prequalification by contractors was proceeding now and he hoped tenders would be invited in June. I asked Mr Vasconcelos about the procedure for tenders. I said that in the past our Embassy in Lisbon had seen calls for tender but usually too late.
Mr Vasconcelos said that whatever had happened in the past, calls for tenders would now be initiated in Macao. The notices would be published in the official gazette and for big projects there would be announcements in the newspapers in Macao and in Hong Kong. I said I was glad to hear this because we knew many British companies were interested in doing business in Macao. Mr Vasconcelos said he would prefer to do business with British companies that had offices in Hong Kong. The time difference made it difficult to get hold of people in Europe in a hurry. Mr Vasconcelos promised to let me know how we could subscribe to the official gazette.
6. I spent most of my second morning at the University of East Asia. Professor Mat Macmillan, now Principal of University College, explained the changes that are taking place. The University was founded in 1981 by private interests who formed a company for the purpose, Ricci Island West. Those interests included Stanley Ho (who is Chairman of the Trustees), the late Ho Yin a local businessman and Edward P H Woo (the Hong Kong lawyer who has just been asked to distance himself from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange). It was intended that the University should serve the community, strengthen relations with China and pay for itself. The need to earn revenue had resulted in a certain academic imbalance in that 75% of the students opted to study business adminstration, 15% the social sciences and 10% the arts. The foundation of the
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