China Watch Blog has learnt that work on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge will be speeded up so that it will be completed on time to meet its slated commissioning in 2016.
Speaking at the launch of the works for the Hong Kong boundary-crossing facilities of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, Chief Executive Donald Tsang says the local projects had been delayed about one year due to a judicial review case last year.
He said the administration would strengthen the manpower and adjust the construction methods to shorten the works programme, to complete the works as scheduled.
“The bridge is the first major cross-boundary infrastructure project jointly undertaken by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau. With the active participation and involvement of the governments of the three places, consensus has been reached in various areas such as construction, financing and operation arrangements, resulting in a multi-win proposal,” Tsang said.
The bridge will be the world’s longest dual three-lane carriageway in the form of a bridge-and-tunnel-structure sea-crossing, linking the three places.
Tsang said the bridge will save time and money for passengers and cargo shipments, and cities in the Pearl River Delta will fall within a three-hour commuting radius of Hong Kong.
The Hong Kong boundary-crossing facilities include the construction of an artificial island of about 150 hectares in the waters northeast of Hong Kong International Airport.
To minimise the reclamation’s environmental impact, a non-dredge seawall construction method, used for the first time, will be adopted for the reclamation works. The amount of marine mud to be dredged and disposed of will be reduced by about 97%.
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