Hong Kong's $10 billion Container Terminal 9 (CT9) project has been further delayed as land premium negotiations are not expected to be completed by the end of the year.
Port Development Board secretary Richard Yuen Ming-fai said the broader terms had been dealt with but 'the land grant still needs two more months for the technical details to be worked out'.
He said the board was concerned only with the broader terms of the deal and would not go into details of the project.
'We expect everything to be concluded by the first quarter of 1998,' Mr Yuen said.
The negotiations are between the Government and Hong Kong International Terminals (HIT) and Modern Terminals Ltd (MTL) - the developers of CT9.
Under a deal endorsed by the Joint Liaison Group in September last year, MTL swapped its two berths at CT8 West for Jardine's two berths at CT9, getting three berths, while HIT got the fourth.
Both MTL and HIT gained an additional feeder berth each at CT9, a new feature in port development to cater for the fast-growing river trade traffic.
