Chinese Government Approves Hong Kong, Macau,
Zhuhai Bridge
The Chinese central government has given approval to
a new bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai, which
would stretch more than 18 miles, cross three customs
regions and cost more than US$3.8 billion. A feasability
for the project has been made, which would cut the current
travel time and distance in half, but no date has yet
been set for the start of the project.
The Chinese government has said that it hopes private
developers will be the lead in the enormous project.
This would not be the first significant transport project
which was led by the private sector; previously Hong
Kong developers have participated in the development
and operation of the Guangdong province highway network.
The aim of the bridge is to provide a much needed improvement
in transport infrastructure to the Pearl River Delta
region of southern China. While the southern Chinese
region was the first part of China opened to non-Chinese
investment and market economics, it has recently lagged
as more investment capital has moved to the Shanghai
and northern Chinese regions.
Historically, transport infrastructure was slow to develop
for historical as well as geographical reasons. Geographically,
the coast line is rough with many small islands. Historically,
Britain controlled Hong Kong until 1997 and Portugal
controlled Macau until 1999. Because the Chinese, British
and Portuguese authorities did not trust each other in
the run-up until their respective handovers, few investments
were made in intra-regional transport infrastructure
development. An example is that the region has five international
airports (Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Macau and Hong
Kong) in a radius of less than 100 miles.
The region is also very unevenly developed with the
eastern region including Hong Kong, Shenzhen and environs
much more economically developed than the western region
comprising Macau and Zhuhai.
A leftover from the British and Portuguese periods is
that both Hong Kong and Macau have their own postal services,
currencies, and customs. Economically, the regions are
much more tightly integrated than previously. Tighter
economic and transport infrastructure are needed if the
region is to compete more effectively with the north,
and this is an issue the southern Chinese provincial
governments have met
to discuss.
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