Port operators have convinced the Government to leave the door open for a key aspect of the Container Terminal 9 contract to be renegotiated should economic conditions deteriorate further.
Government sources said 'some flexibility' had been built into the CT9 contract, which stipulates a 2001 start date for the terminal's first berth and a rollout over the next three years for the subsequent three berths.
If the operators were unable to secure bank finance for the $10 billion project because of uncertainty about throughput growth, the start date could, with government approval, be postponed for an unspecified period, the source said.
The flexibility is a victory for the port developers, Wharf Holding's Modern Terminals and Hutchison Whampoa's Hongkong International Terminals, which had argued that a start date of 2003 would better reflect the port's projected cargo throughput growth.
It is believed to be the first time that such flexibility has been built into a new terminal contract.
Publicly, the port operators have stressed their commitment to the 2001 start date, but the contract flexibility supports analysts' suggestions that the operators are still pushing privately to delay the start.