Hong Kong, Macau and China now linked by world's longest sea bridge
By Bloomberg News, October 23 2018
Another step in China’s project to bring Hong Kong into its bosom is complete, with the opening of a $21.2 billion, 55km bridge linking the former European outposts of Hong Kong and Macau with the mainland city of Zhuhai.
Both the world’s longest sea bridge and tunnel sea-crossing, the six-lane roadway is tipped to carry some 29,000 cars and trucks daily between Zhuhai and Hong Kong.
The project is part of President Xi Jinping’s sweeping plan to knit the so-called Greater Bay Area in southern Guangdong province into a high-tech megalopolis to rival California’s Silicon Valley.
It also envisions a better marriage between China’s industrial might and its one-party state and the liberal, capitalist bastions of Hong Kong and Macau, which have their own passports, currencies, trade policies, courts and civil rights.
The Greater Bay Area could serve as a new growth engine for the capital markets of Hong Kong, the casinos of Macau and nearby Shenzhen, the economic powerhouse one of Xi’s predecessors, Deng Xiaoping, built on their doorstep almost four decades ago.
The area – with 67 million residents – would boast a trillion-dollar economy and eclipse Japan as the world’s fourth-largest exporter, according to HSBC.
The bridge, inaugurated Tuesday by Xi, “would enable Hong Kong and Macau to better leverage the favorable conditions and the unique advantage offered by the mainland” to help engage with the world, Vice Premier Han Zheng said at a function to mark the event in Zhuhai.
The sea bridge is the latest to link Hong Kong directly to the mainland. In September, the city plugged into China’s 15,500-mile high-speed rail network with a futuristic new terminus overlooking the Victoria Harbor. A train to Beijing from Hong Kong now would take nine hours and cost less than half the price of flight ticket.
Read: High-speed rail from Hong Kong to China to tempt business travellers
About 400,000 metric tons of steel was used to build the bridge, or enough to build 55 Eiffel Towers, according to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Authority. Bringing the less developed part of Guangdong closer to Hong Kong, the link will help reduce travel time by road to Zhuhai to about 30 minutes, from three hours.
The bridge was built on one of the world’s busiest sea routes, where more than 4,000 vessels and 1,800 flights travel back and forth daily, carrying annually more than 20 million people and 1.2 billion tons of goods. The area is also known for strong typhoons each year and rare marine species including Chinese white dolphins.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
27 Nov 2014
Total posts 51
And in order for Hong Kongers to drive to Macao, they just need to follow this simple and straightforward procedure: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO3bNlB9j9o
25 Nov 2016
Total posts 43
The ferries won't be out of business then. I will admire the marvellousness of the HKZMB on the boat.
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
17 Nov 2014
Total posts 101
For Australians need to travel to Macau after their flight to Hong Kong, they need to clear customs and immigration, then catch bus B4 to HZMB HK Port then change for HZM Bus to Macau by clearing customs and immigration again for Hong Kong.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
22 Jul 2015
Total posts 219
Spectacular. Just wondering if the crossing will be closed when typhoons hit?
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