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Following is a transcript of the Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works, Dr Sarah Liao's stand-up session on the receipt of a joint merger report from the MTR Corporation Limited and Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation today (September 16):

Reporter : What benefits would you expect from the merger??

Dr Liao : As I said, I would like to see the benefit of savings in the merger and the better utilisation of resources will benefit the public at large. And also with the merger, we can see a larger corporation which can be a world-class railway operation that can run or work its way into the region including the Mainland, of course.

Reporter : About the transaction terms.......?

Dr Liao : This is an issue which involves transport policy, it also involves a public listed company. So there is sensitivity in regard to the share price of the company involved. So to a large extent, unless we have confirmed some of the merger conditions, we cannot disclose them at a premature stage.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion)

Ends/Thursday, September 16, 2004

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