Et and Airport Development
Information Unit
Verbatim Transcript of Press Conference December 11, 1990
:
Panel:
Mr Hamish Macleod, Secretary for the Treasury
Miss Denise Yue, Principal Assistant Financial Secretary Mr Rafael Hui, Deputy Secretary, New Airport Works Division, Works Branch.
Mr Macleod: The purpose of the briefing is to give you a chance to clarify any points in the press release. I think, also, we are very conscious that in the past few weeks there has been quite a confusing number of different figures on the costs of the various projects. So we thought it a good time to try and clarify what the relevant figures are.
Somehow, although we started off making it very clear that the original figure, first of all, stretched to 2006- so it is over a very long period - and secondly we made it very clear that part of the total cost would be borne by the private sector. But somehow, in some of the coverage, we still get this same figure being repeated time after time. And recently, other figures have somehow emerged so it has, it has, got very confusing, and our purpose is to try and reduce that confusion.
Why now? Apart from that point. The fact is that our planning is now getting rather more advanced and, for our own practical purposes, we need to focus on a reasonable planning horizon. And, the appropriate event to focus on seemed to us to be the opening of the first runway of the new airport. So that is how we have grouped the projects together. The projects which are necessary if we are to have that first runway operational and if we are to manage, of course, to transport people to and from it.
Some of those projects were on the original PADS list and some were not. Some were not because, in our view, they were required anyway, with or without an airport. For example, we need the Western Harbour Crossing because the existing crossings will be too full. So that's the reason why you have a bit of a mixture in the list which you have with you.
The extent of private sector participation in the airport and the Western Harbour Crossing we have not quantified in the press release, I am sure you will have noticed that. We haven't quantified it at this stage simply because the studies are still proceeding, particularly on the airport, and they will help to refine the picture, and also because we are practical people and in the end the final figures will,
figures will, of course, depend on the financial climate prevailing at the time that these projects actually go out for funds. So there is a limit at this stage to how precise one can be on private sector participation.
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