The remaining 11 technical consultancy contracts for the Western Corridor Railway, worth about $520 million, will not be awarded until the Government has accepted KCRC proposals on the project, a government source said yesterday.
The remarks were in response to calls by the Preparatory Committee economics sub-group to stop awarding the contracts before the Chinese side gave its blessing.
The source said that since the Legislative Council had agreed to nine contracts worth $230 million to refine the rail alignment, the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation had already awarded eight. The remaining one would be awarded soon.
But the Government would not award 11 technical studies contracts until a decision on the KCRC proposal had been made.
Nicky Chan Nai-keong, a Preparatory Committee member on the economics sub-group, has accused the KCRC of providing misleading figures on the salaries of the staff hired for the project.
But the KCRC said a figure calculated by Mr Chan was incorrect.