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1. Appointment of Town Planning Board Chairman

2. MTRC chief in talks on contract

1. Appointment of Town Planning Board Chairman
Hong Kong Government, 11 October 2002

The Chief Executive has appointed the Permanent Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands (Planning and Lands) as the Chairman of the Town Planning Board (TPB).

The Director of Housing has also been appointed as a Member of the TPB and the two Planning Committees under TPB, the Metro Planning Committee and the Rural and New Town Planning Committee.

The appointments are published in the Gazette today (October 11) and the term of which takes immediate effect to March 31, 2004.

The TPB membership comprises seven official and 33 non-official members.

Previously, the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands was the chairman of the Board.

2. MTRC chief in talks on contract
Keith Wallis, The Standard 12 October 2002

Embattled rail operator MTR Corp yesterday downplayed a report that chairman Jack So had resigned, saying he was in talks with the government about renewing his contract, which expires next September.

The company said: ``Chairman Jack So's contract continues until September 2003. Meanwhile, as is normal practice, discussions are taking place with the government on the renewal of the contract. No decision has been made.''

Spokeswoman Maggie So refused to confirm or deny that So had quit. She said: ``We are still discussing the renewal of his contract.''

The Hong Kong Economic Journal yesterday reported that So had submitted his resignation and the government was likely to accept it. It added So had initially thought about resigning in June, but deferred taking action until after Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa was re-elected for a second term.

The newspaper said the government would carry out a global search to find a replacement, although So had suggested two senior MTRC executives, Russell Black and Phil Gaffney, as possible successors.

Black is project director in charge of developing the new rail lines such as the Disney link, north Island line and south Island line. Gaffney is operations director responsible for the day-to-day running of the railway.

Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao refused to comment directly on the newspaper report but said talks were continuing over the renewal of So's contract.

Industry insiders were not surprised by the report.

``He [So] was very angry the MTRC lost its bid for the HK$35 billion Sha Tin to Central line against the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation,'' one source said.

The KCRC won the tender on June 25 even though the MTRC offered a lower bid of HK$23 billion, conditional on winning the rights to develop three lots of land to offset the construction cost.

The source added: ``So was left seething after the government decided to give parts of the MTRC's proposal to the KCRC to incorporate into its own scheme.''

This included two additional stations, one at Tsz Wan Shan and the other at Whampoa that will be linked by an underground automated people-mover shuttle train.

In a rare move after KCRC was appointed, the MTRC issued a statement saying it was ``disappointed'' to have lost the tender.

It said: ``The company believes that KCRC's lack of requirement for property development is made possible by the diversion of passengers and revenue from the existing MTR system after the KCRC Sha Tin-Central link opens.''

Another source believed one of the deciding factors in So's resignation was the government's move to merge both rail corporations with KCRC chairman Michael Tien tipped to head the enlarged rail operator.

``Jack is not the kind of person to play second fiddle to anyone, especially as it's widely known the two rail companies do not exactly get on with one another. Jack can resign now with some grace rather than being forced out later or work as Tien's deputy,'' the insider said.

The government owns 77 per cent of the MTRC following an initial public offering two years ago. The share price has fallen 16.8 per cent in the past three months, and closed the week yesterday at an all-time low of HK$8.65.