Cross-border committee starts talks
THE first full meeting of the new Sino-British Infrastructure Co-ordinating Committee will not discuss details of individual cross-border projects.
Secretary for Planning, Environment and Lands Tony Eason, the British team leader, said today's one-day session in Guangzhou would begin with briefings on projects on both sides of the border.
'Then we will go on and talk about the formation of panels which we have agreed should be the way of taking forward the detailed discussions on the individual areas of concern, such as railways, roads and bridges, and air traffic control,' he said yesterday.
Mr Eason said the committee's programme over the next few months and those of various panels would be discussed.
'I think we will discuss the possibility of some site visits a little later on, on both sides of the border.' Talks on the details of individual projects would be set up later by specialists sitting on various panels.
Mr Eason said he expected three panels to be formed. He hoped members of those panels would start discussing specific projects 'reasonably soon after this meeting'.
Mr Eason denied the Infrastructure Co-ordinating Committee had been making slow progress since its formation in December, and said the 'very good progress' that had been made would be kept up.
Other members of the British team include Secretary for Economic Services Gordon Siu Kwing-chue, Secretary for Transport Haider Barma, Director of Planning Peter Pun Kwok-shing and representatives of the Highways Department.
The Chinese team is led by Zhang Liangdong, the economic chief of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office.
Mainland team members include officials in charge of state planning, aviation, energy resources, railways and transport co-ordination.
The committee is to speed up infrastructure development and help in conflicts over projects in the Pearl River Delta.
