TNAG-2439-FCO40-3544-Hong-Kong-crime-1992 — Page 18

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4.

In view of the

deteriorating law and order situation and the frequent outbreak of gun-battles, some respondents urged the Government to educate the public on the proper action they should take,

e.g. not to gather at the scene of shooting etc, to facilitate the work of the police. Some respondents also suggested that goldsmiths and jewellery shops, which were popular robbery targets, should be required to tighten their own precautionary measures.

AIRPORT CORE PROJECTS

5.

Many respondents demanded the Government's clear explanation on why the construction contract of the Tsing Ma Bridge

to be awarded, at an extra cost of $2 billion, to the second lowest bidder, which was a British-Japanese joint venture.

There was a strong belief that British companies were being favoured in the award of contracts. Many did not find Government's doubts over the Korean company's ability to complete the contract on time to be an acceptable reason to reject its bid. Respondents urged Government to make more transparent its tendering procedures and to be more forthcoming with explanations as to why there could be occasions when contracts might not be awarded to the qualified lowest bidders. The main concern of the respondents in general was that the continuous failure to award contracts to the lowest bidders would eventually result in large scale overruns in building costs and place an unacceptable financial burden on both Hong Kong people and the future SAR Government.

It was also owing to this reason that some respondents said it was understandable for the Chinese Government to delay signifying their support of the financial arrangements of the new airport projects. These respondents said the Chinese side should be given ample time to study the details of the arrangement in order to arrive at a sensible decision.

6.

Some respondents said however that China's delay in supporting the financial arrangement would make the obtaining of loans for the projects very difficult and would delay the whole airport project, which eventually would be detrimental to Hong Kong's stability and prosperity. All respondents expressed their wish that there should be no more open disputes between China and Hong Kong on the airport projects, especially while the Asian Development Bank was having its annual meeting in the territory.

NEW GOVERNOR

7.

Views were mixed as to whether Mr Patten's close relationship with the UK Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary would be advantageous to Hong Kong. While many respondents thought that major decisions could be made by the new Governor relatively more easily and that Hong Kong affairs could gain more attention in London, others held the view that Mr Patten would place the interests of the UK, especially those of the Conservative Party, at the top of his list and Hong Kong's interest could at times be ignored.

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