THE Provisional Airport Authority (PAA) is seeking alternatives now that consulting engineers have refused to submit tenders for eight design contracts of the Chek Lap Kok airport.
The authority had received no tenders on three design contracts by yesterday's noon deadline Corporate affairs manager of the PAA, Mr Phillip Bruce, declined to be specific on what alternatives the authority was investigating.
''We are committed to ensuring that cost-effective solutions are found which allow us to meet the target set for us of completing the replacement airport on time and within budget,'' Mr Bruce said.
Consulting engineers have described the tender conditions as ''onerous'', but the authority maintained that they were not dissimilar to those in other contracts already employed in Hongkong, Mr Bruce said.
Honorary Secretary of Association of Consulting Engineers of Hongkong, Mr Edmund Leung Kwong-ho, said they were unhappy at the extremely large face amount of public liability insurance schemes, the ambiguous scope of the works, and the lack of co-ordination between different contracting parties.
''These conditions made it difficult for us to price our tenders,'' he said.