The Airport Authority has appointed senior local banker Raymond Lai as finance director controlling the purse strings of the Chek Lap Kok project.
Mr Lai replaces James Dundas as finance chief with the Airport Authority needing an additional $4.3 billion to fund the second runway.
An establishment banker for 20 years, Mr Lai is head of corporate banking and capital markets at ABN Amro Bank in Hong Kong.
'The Airport Authority is very pleased with Mr Lai's appointment, which will complement and strengthen the executive directors' group in the lead up to the opening of the new airport in April 1998 and its future operations,' Airport Authority chairman Wong Po-yan said.
The appointment is no surprise, since ABN Amro has a strong banking relationship with the Airport Authority, having acted as an arranger on the $8.2 billion loan facility secured at the beginning of the year.
Mr Lai said: 'I am gratified to be entrusted with such responsibilities and will do my very best to meet the challenges ahead.' Reacting to the appointment, Dennis Wong, vice-president at Bank of America Asia Securities, expected Mr Lai to pursue an unchanged borrowing policy with the project financing details having been buttoned down by the Joint Liaison Group (JLG).
