Japanese, Hong Kong companies get biggest slice of core jobs
JAPAN has bagged a marginally higher share of the 10 Airport Core Programme (ACP) contracts than the territory in Hong Kong's new airport.
It has a 25 per cent share compared to Hong Kong's 22 per cent share.
Britain has a 17 per cent share, China eight per cent, the Netherlands six per cent, France six per cent, Belgium and New Zealand three per cent each, Australia and Spain two per cent each and others, including Germany, Italy and the United States, six per cent.
'By the end of September, 151 major contracts valued at $92 billion had been awarded by the Government, the Provisional Airport Authority, the Mass Transit Railway Corporation and the Western Harbour Tunnel Co ,' said a New Airport Projects Co-Ordination Office (NAPCO) spokesman.
These contracts were within the $158.2 billion ACP budget and reflected ACP's international stature.
The ACP was given a big boost by Cathay Pacific's recent announcement of plans to build a $3.5-billion headquarters complex, including a staff hotel, on 3.3 hectares of land at Chek Lap Kok.
Other recent developments include the topping out of the seven-storey air traffic control tower only a year after construction began.
Decks for two road bridges and a railway bridge have been completed between Chek Lap Kok and north Lantau. These bridges will carry traffic to the airport island. So far, the MTRC has completed the awarding of 31 major contracts for the airport railway.
The latest contract was for the manufacture and installation of station lifts.
Besides these developments, the fourth 11,000-tonne unit of the airport railway's immersed tube tunnel has been sunk into the harbour.
Work on the $2.6-billion West Kowloon Expressway has seen the last of 2,258 precast concrete segments put into place for the elevated northern section. The project is scheduled for completion by October 1996.
As part of the transport development linked with ACP, a fourth new ferry pier was opened at the Central reclamation for ferry and hoverferry services to Tuen Mun and Tai O on north Lantau.
In addition, the new government dockyard was opened at Stonecutters island.
The NAPCO spokesman said work on the 10 interlinked projects related to the new airport construction was well advanced.
Work included the formation of an island platform for the airport, construction of two towers and suspension cables for the Tsing Ma bridge - the world's longest span road-rail suspension bridge - and public housing blocks at Tung Chung on 67 hectares of reclaimed land.
The ACP will also provide land reclaimed from the harbour and 34 km of new highways.
