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Following is the transcript of a press briefing today (February 24) on the invitation to the two railway corporations to commence negotiations on a possible merger:

Reporter: Is the Government in effect creating a giant monopoly here? And are you concerned about that? And how would you regulate this giant company after it's privatised after the merger?

Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works: In fact, this is one of the considerations that we have given much thought. Although we are creating a giant company, we still have other modes of transport that would provide competition in the trade of public transport. But on the other hand, the economies of scale would equip the joint company with even more assets for going into the region for railway business as the MTRC has now started. So there are advantages and disadvantages. What I want to emphasize is that the Government would have a regulatory system to ensure that even under a natural monopoly for rail, we would still have measures to make sure that the provision of service would be up to the highest standard.

Reporter: ...(inaudible)... just want to mention that there is quite a number of projects underway, and then with the possible merger of the two corporations, and the revision of these routes ...and what other factors or consideration you would actually consider in aligning/re-routing these future projects?

Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works: ...(inaudible)... in the planning of the new railway, certainly there would be much more room to manoeuver. You know, first of all the alignment, the location of stations, and of course, if we can design seamless interchange, that would be the benefit that we're looking for.

Reporter: ...(inaudible)... Shatin Central Link...?

Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works: I don't think so. Because the Railway Development Strategy 2000 has taken into consideration the existence of both railways.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Tuesday, February 24, 2004

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