ENG-1997 — Page 324

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THE AIRPORT CORE PROGRAMME

is estimated that the new airport and the AR alone will create around 10 000 new jobs.

Implementing and Financing the ACP

The ACP is implemented by the government, two statutory bodies wholly owned by the government, and a franchisee. The government is responsible for seven of the 10 projects, covering the two land reclamations, the transport corridor and Tung Chung new town. The Airport Authority (AA) is responsible for providing, developing, operating and maintaining the new airport. The MTR Corporation is responsible for building, financing and operating the AR. The Western Harbour Tunnel Company Limited (WHTC) built and operates the Western Harbour Crossing (WHC) under a 30-year franchise.

The ACP is projected to cost $155.3 billion in money-of-the-day values. Of this amount, the estimates for the new airport, AR and WHC are $70.2 billion, $34 billion and $6.5 billion respectively, and $44.6 billion for the seven other government ACP projects.

The government has completed equity injection totalling $36.6 billion and $23.7 billion into the new airport and the AR respectively. It will meet a total of $109.9 billion, or more than 70 per cent of the total ACP budget, in the form of direct funding of government works projects ($49.6 billion) and through equity injection ($60.3 billion) into the AA and the MTR Corporation. The remaining 30 per cent comes from private sector participation in the form of commercial lending for the new airport and the AR, key franchises at the new airport and the WHC franchise.

International Participation

At the end of 1997, a total of 182 major contracts worth about $96.4 billion had been awarded. They included 92 contracts worth $38.4 billion awarded by the government; 58 contracts worth $34.5 billion awarded by the AA; 31 contracts worth $17.8 billion awarded by the MTR Corporation; and one contract worth $5.7 billion awarded by the WHTC.

The government, AA, MTR Corporation and WHTC welcome international participation in ACP contracts and strictly apply Hong Kong's traditional 'level playing field' approach in tendering procedures and the award of contracts. A significant number of international companies have won ACP contracts, often as part of joint ventures. By the end of 1997, the People's Republic of China had won the largest share by value with 31 per cent (PRC Mainland, 8 per cent and HKSAR, 23 per cent) of the total, followed by Japan (26 per cent), the United Kingdom (16 per cent), the Netherlands (6 per cent), France (5 per cent), Belgium (3 per cent) and New Zealand (3 per cent). Spain, Australia, the United States of America and Germany each had about 2 per cent and the remaining 2 per cent was shared by Italy, South Africa, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Portugal and Denmark.

New Airport

Good progress continued to be made on the development of the new airport. With its opening set for July 6, 1998, planning for the transfer of the aviation business and overall airport operations from Kai Tak to the new airport is in full swing.