Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Mega-Bridge Project

[shree711]

Originally Posted by khoojyh

Mainland car is free to enter HK?

No, they need a Hong Kong plate.

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by shree711

Why not? It is this way in europe and you don't even need passports to go to Macao.

Well, the Europe model is not what the Pearl River Delta region will adopt any time soon. You technically don't need a passport to enter Macau. HK ID's will suffice although foreigners will still need to show their passports.

[khoojyh]

Originally Posted by shree711

No, they need a Hong Kong plate.

You mean number plate?

[shree711]

Originally Posted by khoojyh

You mean number plate?

Yes.

[khoojyh]

Originally Posted by shree711

Yes.

The number plate will be fix for only a car or the mainland car owner have return the number once leave HK?

[shree711]

Originally Posted by khoojyh

The number plate will be fix for only a car or the mainland car owner have return the number once leave HK?

The mainland cars have number plates fixed to them.

[hkskyline]

Typically, both plates are fixed to the vehicle. There is no requirement to remove anything upon crossing the border.

[khoojyh]

Hmm, ok. Thanks for the information.

[khoojyh]

Actually the bridge never stop or touch down in any Macau territory, it's stop somewhere in Zhuhai where it very near to Macau. Correct me if I am wrong.

[hkskyline]

Originally Posted by khoojyh

Actually the bridge never stop or touch down in any Macau territory, it's stop somewhere in Zhuhai where it very near to Macau. Correct me if I am wrong.

Think it does - but on a new reclaimed island :

[khoojyh]

Wow, thank you so much, this is fixed route?

[shree711]

Originally Posted by khoojyh

Wow, thank you so much, this is fixed route?

Yes. They are building it now.

[skyridgeline]

Originally Posted by gramercy

it still strikes me as odd that here they will build a 40+ km bridge for road instead of rail

in the above video the engineer seems quite evasive about the question
im sure they considered a rail-only link, but somehow they dismissed it
a channel tunnel like link would have been better imho

still awesome

Like he said, the additional capability to handle rail loads (implied high speed) will cost a lot more. Remember, this is Hong Kong and Macau!

Of course he was uncomfortable answering the bridge question ... most people from Hong Kong, Macau and China don't drive. However, they will make do with express "buses" and "taxi" (actually quite common pratice in the area I believe).

A channel tunnel! It will be over budget by on top of a much bigger budget ... not cool. And I think for the government of China, this bridge link is not considered strategically important.

[hkskyline]

New techniques for Delta Bridge
14/03/2012 10:24:00
Macau Daily Times

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (Delta Bridge) will use a new form of pillar in its construction, to be used for the first time in China. According to Mainland media China News, the technique to be employed is called a “compound steel pipe pillar”, which has the advantages of saving costs while providing extra support to the main body of the construction. The report said it would be the first time this material and skill were employed in China.

The report also quoted Zhuhai municipal sources as saying that successful testing had been conducted on the pillars, paving the way for its practical use in the construction. The bridge stretching three cities will total almost 50 kilometers in length, becoming the longest sea bridge in the world.

Zhuhai Communist Party Secretary Li Jia said last week in Beijing, that he expected the whole project to be finished by 2016. Currently, workers are constructing the reclamation island, where the Macau-Zhuhai section of the bridge will set its foot on. The report says after laying the foundation for the man-made island in April, the construction will enter the most difficult stage, which is the building of a cross-harbor tunnel.

[hkskyline]

Macau-Guangdong to build new border crossing
07/03/2012 10:26:00
Macau Daily Times

Macau and Guangdong are planning a new border crossing point to channel the growing number of travelers away from the Barrier Gate. Both sides have reached preliminary consensus but the location and completion of the new checkpoint is yet to be finalized.

According to TDM and the Government Information Bureau, the Chief Executive Chui Sai On raised the proposal during his meeting with Guangdong provincial leaders on the sidelines of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing.

Chui said the rapidly growing number of travelers between the two sides had put tremendous pressure on the Barrier Gate (or Gongbei Port on the mainland’s side), which saw 94 million travelers last year to and from Macau and Zhuhai. The number is expected to continue climbing in the coming year and Chui said a new passage is very important to Macau’s economic development as the Barrier Gate is already overburdened.

The two sides reached initial consensus on the need for an additional crossing and agreed to further study the practical arrangements, including location and operational hours. But Tam Chon Weng, head of the Office of the Chief Executive told media that the new crossing point will likely have longer open hours than the Barrier Gate, which operates from 7am - midnight.

Numerous proposals have been raised by social groups and individuals in recent years for alleviating the burden on the Barrier Gate and for better handling the number of travelers from Mainland. They include longer opening hours, and to adopt a single-way immigration checking like that used in the European Union, which required a document check-up by the immigration department of the destination, rather than by both the destination and the place of departure, as currently practiced in the Barrier Gate.

Chui also discussed Hengqin’s development progress with Guangdong officials. Zhuihai mayor Li Jia was quoted as saying that significant results would be seen within this year on various projects in the new zone, including the industrial park for Chinese Medicine, the new Macau University campus and relevant infrastructures. Li also mentioned the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, saying the three sides were co-operating closely on the cross-border project and he was confident the bridge would be finished by 2016, providing an extra impetus for the economic advancement for the three places and the Pear River Delta region as a whole. The bridge will be connected to the Hengqin development zone by a secondary bridge.

Bai Zhijian, director of the Chinese Liaison Office in Macau was quoted as saying the fact that the Hengqin development project was included in Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s working report showed Beijing’s resolved intention to make use of the new zone to help Macau achieve its diversification of its economic structure, which is currently heavily reliant on gaming industry. He stressed the new zone would provide a precious opportunity for Macau’s development. He is also in Beijing for the CPPCC meeting.

[Ervin2]

Originally Posted by gramercy

it still strikes me as odd that here they will build a 40+ km bridge for road instead of rail

in the above video the engineer seems quite evasive about the question
im sure they considered a rail-only link, but somehow they dismissed it
a channel tunnel like link would have been better imho

still awesome

Hong Kong and Macau are both highly reliant on buses, and there isn't nearly enough demand for rail between the two anyway. Also rail transport would take up a ton of space for the tracks and stations and so on in a place that's very limited in space, especially in Macau. Meanwhile buses are very versatile with destinations. It takes a massive amount of demand to justify a rail service.

[khoojyh]

Originally Posted by Ervin2

Hong Kong and Macau are both highly reliant on buses, and there isn't nearly enough demand for rail between the two anyway. Also rail transport would take up a ton of space for the tracks and stations and so on in a place that's very limited in space, especially in Macau. Meanwhile buses are very versatile with destinations. It takes a massive amount of demand to justify a rail service.

Ask more land from Beijing...

[hkskyline]

Cost of link road to bridge climbs by $25b
The Standard
Friday, April 20, 2012

The cost of the 12-kilometer link road to the massive Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge has swelled by 50 percent to HK$25 billion.

Sources told Sing Tao Daily, sister newspaper of The Standard, that if the project is delayed further, the costs will increase even more.

The government also confirmed it will re-tender a 3km stretch, which will include constructing ground sections and tunnels, after tenders it received were too high.

The source said bidding prices will be lowered but did not say by how much or the date of the re- tendering exercise.

The HK$83 billion bridge across the Pearl River Delta is being built jointly by Zhuhai, Macau and Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong section will cost at least HK$48.5 billion and includes a 12km link road to the main bridge at the edge of Hong Kong's territorial waters. The original estimate was HK$16.2 billion.

The government will seek the Finance Committee's approval for the additional HK$8.8 billion next Friday, the source said. A paper will also be discussed at the Legislative Council transport panel meeting on Wednesday.

Of the additional billions, HK$3.27 billion was the result of the cost of construction machines and workers' salaries going up due to inflation.

The cost of renting a cargo ship, to transport construction materials to build the artificial island, has gone up 30 percent, the source added.

Another HK$3.44 billion is required to pay for extra staff, technology and equipment needed to make up for lost construction time after a legal challenge stalled the project's progress for nearly a year.

The bridge project is designed to be a major artery for cargo and passengers between the southwestern provinces and Hong Kong.

Following approval by the central government in 2008, construction began in Zhuhai and Macau in 2009.

Hong Kong, however, has lagged seriously due to various challenges by environmentalists.

Work on the main bridge section began only in December, although officials pledged to speed up the project so the whole bridge could open on time.

Construction of the Macau and Zhuhai sections of the main bridge ports started in late 2009, and that forced the Hong Kong authorities to boost manpower, working hours and machinery as well as construction points in an effort to ensure the bridge opens as planned by 2016.

"If additional funds cannot be approved next week and accordingly construction is delayed after June, I would have no confidence that the bridge will be done by 2016," the source added.

[hkskyline]

Panel approves extra $8.8b for bridge link road
The Standard
Thursday, April 26, 2012

Lawmakers on the Legislative Council's transport panel yesterday approved a government request for an extra HK$8.8 billion for a road project linked to the Hong Kong- Zhuhai-Macau bridge.

The request will now be passed to the Legco Finance Committee's public works subcommittee for discussion on May 7.

Secretary for Transport and Housing Eva Cheng Yu-wah told the panel meeting the government needs the extra funding for the 12-kilometer Hong Kong Link Road as the delay caused by a judicial review against its environmental impact assessment has caused costs to escalate on top of higher-than- expected risk assessment costs.

She said HK$3.27 billion will go to the increase in the cost of construction materials while HK$3.44 billion will go to the risk assessment adjustment.

The increase in provision for price adjustment and for emergencies makes up HK$670 million and HK$1.48 billion respectively.

"The later the construction begins, the higher the construction cost will be," Cheng said. The extra funding will push the total cost of the dual-carriageway, three-lane road to HK$25 billion.

Cheng said the construction costs will continue to soar if the funding is not approved, though she could not put a figure on how much more money will be needed per month of delay. "One thing for sure is the economic loss per year of delay will be 2.2 billion yuan [HK$2.7 billion] for Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai," Cheng said.

Should the committee give the go-ahead, construction may begin in the middle of the year and be finished by the end of 2016.

But it could have been completed nine months earlier had the Tung Chung resident Chu Yee-wah, 65, not filed the judicial review.

The Civic Party, which assisted Chu in the review, came under fire at yesterday's meeting for adding HK$8.8 billion to the price tag of the project.

Lawmaker Wong Kwok-kin of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions claimed that if the money had been used instead to stabilize MTR fares, there would be no increases for about 50 years. If used to give free tram rides to the elderly and disabled, they could travel without charge for about 100 years.

Liberal Party chairwoman Miriam Lau Kin-yee also said the HK$8.8 billion could have been put to better use. "The public is shocked at having to pay HK$8.8 billion more," Lau said. "It is not justified that the taxpayers have to pay for this."

But Civic Party legislator Audrey Eu Yuet-mee denied it was the party that filed for the review. Party member Alan Leong Kah-kit, acting as an individual, merely helped file it.

[hkskyline]

THB welcomes LegCo's funding approval for Hong Kong Link Road
Friday, May 25, 2012
Government Press Release



The Government welcomes the Legislative Council Finance Committee's approval today (May 25) of an additional funding of $8,857.3 million for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB) Hong Kong Link Road (HKLR). With the approval, the works of the HKLR will commence as soon as possible and will proceed full steam along with other local projects of the HZMB.

The HZMB is a major infrastructure project jointly financed and undertaken by the Governments of Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao. Through close co-operation and full involvement amongst the three places, the construction of the Main Bridge, located in Mainland waters, commenced in 2009 as scheduled and is expected to completed by 2016 as planned. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is responsible for the construction of the Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (HKBCF) and the HKLR, which connects the HKBCF with the Main Bridge.

A spokesman for the Transport and Housing Bureau said, "Commencing the works of the HKLR as soon as possible is an advantage in all aspects. Works commencement of the HKLR has been delayed for nearly nine months due to a judicial review case earlier. As a result, the works programme has changed from very adequate to very tight. A tighter timetable will increase the difficulty of works. The contractors will need to adopt more special measures, such as increased labour resources, arrangement of overtime work and increased plant resources, to ensure the smooth progress of the project. Together with the recent surge in construction prices, a delay in the works programme would cause a further increase in construction costs. Hence, additional funding approval has to be sought.

"With the funding approval, we will commence works on the HKLR immediately. On the other hand the construction of the HKBCF, which started at the end of last year, has been progressing well. We have confidence in completing the local works of the HZMB on time to match the target of commissioning the Main Bridge in 2016," the spokesman said.

The HZMB is a major cross-boundary transport infrastructure project of strategic value. It will connect Hong Kong with Macao, Zhuhai, the western Pearl River Delta (PRD), western Guangdong and even the southwestern part of the Mainland, facilitating the expansion of the Mainland hinterland. Upon the commission of the HZMB, the western PRD will fall within a reachable three-hour living circle of Hong Kong, which will facilitate cultural exchange, social integration and economic development amongst the three places.

In the future, the transportation time for containers between Zhuhai and Hong Kong will be reduced by 60 per cent. The travelling time will even be cut by 80 per cent from Zhuhai to Hong Kong International Airport. The HZMB will benefit various industries including logistics, tourism, catering and retail, finance and information technology.

Apart from the application of additional funding of $8,857.3 million for the HKLR, the construction costs of the HKBCF and other related local works have also increased by about $6,500 million as a result of the delay in works caused by the judicial review case in early 2010. To date, an additional $15.4 billion in construction cost has been required.