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Following is the transcript of a media session given by the Chief Secretary for Administration, Mr Donald Tsang, after a meeting with the Vice Chairman of the State Development Planning Commission, Mr Zhang Guobao, and his delegation today (March 2) (English part):
Reporter: Mr Tsang, can you tell us what's the initial proposal about the regional express line, and have you discussed with Mr Zhang how can we ensure there is a cost-effective regional express line under the current budget contraints in Hong Kong?
Mr Tsang: The regional express line is our priority item of Hong Kong's investment programme. The Chief Executive had referred to it on several occasions. What we have discussed today is how the expert groups should gather and explore various things, such as the alignment, the boundary point where the Hong Kong section should join up with the Mainland section, and particularly on technology. This requires considerable considerations. We haven't gone into detailed cost evaluation yet. That will come later on. This will be led by the Secretary for Transport and as I have said just now the expert groups will meet very shortly. Hopefully, we'll be able to bring some progress reports to you and to this co-ordination committee in the middle of this year.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion.)
End/Saturday, March 2, 2002
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