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CONTACTS between civil servants and China's working panel for the post-1997 government, the Preliminary Working Committee (PWC), should be stepped up, a former senior civil servant says.

   Former Secretary for Lands and Works Nicky Chan Nai-keong said this would make a smooth transition more likely for the 180,000-strong workforce.

  His comments come as controversy about the civil service and its links to tovernments already, and he does not favour contacts with the PWC.

  However, senior Chinese official Lu Ping, in the territory to attend meetings of the PWC, on Saturday met civil service associations. He gave them reassurances about their pension fund and their future after 1997.

   Expatriate civil servants were excluded from the meeting.

    Mr Chan, a key member of the Former Civil Servants' Association which is to be inaugurated next month, said the new group would help communication and relay the concerns of the civil service to China.

  Another objective was to advise present and future governments on the administration of Hong Kong, making use of the group's government experience.

  Lack of communication had given rise to uncertainties among civil servants as to their conditions of work after 1997.

  In an interview with the South China Morning Post, Mr Chan said it was the PWC's responsibility to seek a solution to the worries of the civil service about the 1997 changeover.

  He would not comment on whether the Government could achieve a smooth transition for the civil service. But he said that, as former civil servants, the group had to contribute in times of Sino-British impasse.

  ''With the change of sovereignty, our civil servants have to face a new boss whom they know so little about,'' he said.

  The only solution was to let them know more about their future boss.

  ''But the Chief Executive of the Special Administrative Region will only be elected by a select committee to be formed in 1996. So, at this stage, the only way is to talk to the PWC,'' he said.

  Mr Chan agreed the political atmosphere made such communications very sensitive. However, the association would remain politically neutral.

  ''The fact that we try to enhance communication with China does not mean that we are pro-Beijing,'' he said. ''That's why we think perhaps we could act as a bridge here to relay [civil servants'] concern.''   He called on the PWC to propose a set of objective criteria for the select committee to follow in the choice of candidates to become Chief Executive.

  Mr Chan said it was necessary for civil servants to remain politically neutral, so they could formulate policies in the best interests of Hong Kong as a whole.

  The association will write to the Chinese State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the Chief Secretary, Anson Chan Fang On-sang, to seek discussions.

 The association includes former key players in the Government. Recently retired secretary for education and manpower John Chan Cho-chak; secretary for transport Yeung Kai-yin; and director of education Li Yuet-ting had joined, among more than 30 former civil servants.

 Mr Chan is among the four China-appointed Hong Kong affairs advisers in the group. Others are the former head of Correctional Services Department Chan Wa-shek; deputy director of industry Wilfred Wong Ying-wai; and secretary for home affairs Donald Liao Poon-huai.

        he PWC continues.

  Governor Chris Patten has said there are enough channels for communication between the Hong Kong and Chinese g 



Officials 'should meet PWC'