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HONG KONG – After delays, nearly a decade of construction and blowing costs of up to $ 20 billion, the world's longest sea crossing – linking Hong Kong to mainland China – was opened to traffic last Tuesday as the last megaproject. with stamp of Beijing.
Comments for the duration of 34 miles?
Chinese President Xi Jinping led the cheerleader on the political symbolism and commercial benefits of the steel and concrete ribbon linking the former British colony Hong Kong to Macau, which was once in Portugal.
However, in Hong Kong, a bustling city, many wondered why they were baduming such a share of the costs with so few tangible benefits.
After all, the journey from Hong Kong to Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai is only 30 minutes faster than crossing existing bridges. In Macao, the upgrade is clearer. A ferry was the only way to reach the mainland.
But that does not give a complete picture, say the Chinese officials.
The bridge-tunnel route is considered a cornerstone of China's "Great Bay" plan, which aims to connect the lucrative hubs of Hong Kong and Macau with 11 other cities in southern China. The idea is more to attract more tourists and workers from the continental region – which has more than 60 million inhabitants – in semi-autonomous cities.
Aerial view of a section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. (Anthony Wallace / AFP / Getty Images)
On Tuesday, in Zhuhai City, on the mainland, Xi declared the opening officially, as digital fireworks exploded on a screen behind him and officials had set another world record set in China. (The Chesapeake Bay Tunnel Tunnel, for example, is 23 miles long and the Channel Eurotunnel is 31.5 miles long.)
[[[[In China, investigations and purges become the new norm.]
Carrie Lam, Executive Director of Hong Kong, hailed the "once in a lifetime" project as a link to connect Hong Kong closer to the continent.
Few Hong Kong see it that way.
Residents deplored the continued encroachment of mainland China on the city's affairs, including the efforts perceived by activists as an attempt to roll back the traditions of the relatively free-speech enclave and free trade.
Critics also oppose the increase in the number of tourists and workers from Chinese cities in the dense downtown of Hong Kong and the even more populated gambling hot spot, Macao.
Hong Kong taxpayers had to pay almost half of the bill. But it is not easy for anyone to appear in the new slice.
Travelers must go through a complicated system to obtain permits from all three cities – a process that can take almost two weeks – and will also have to take out insurance in all cities.
Comments on a video from the Hong Kong government explaining the process make fun of the so-called simple process of overly bureaucratic, and note that Hong Kong residents can simply take a ferry to Macau, for example, without any such requirement . Private car licenses allowed to cross the bridge will also be limited to 5,000 people initially.
"It's very strange. It crosses much of the sea and yet ordinary people can not use it. What is the point of this? Said Claudia Mo, a Hong Kong legislator for democracy. "This project is obviously a political symbol. I'm sure Beijing was clear that we did not really need it and it was not necessary at the moment. "
A temporary barrier is located on the border of Hong Kong and China on the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau Bridge. (Alex Hofford / EPA-EFE / Rex / Shutterstock)
The bridge, she added, is "a permanent feature and a permanent reminder that Hong Kong is still connected to the vast hinterland" of mainland China.
The project has also been criticized for its poor quality of work and its negative consequences for the environment. On the construction period, 19 workers died and dozens were injured, falling into the sea below after the collapse of a working platform.
Since the accelerated construction in recent years, the population of Chinese iconic white dolphins that inhabit these waters has risen from about 80 in 2012 to 47 in 2017, according to Taison Chang, chairman of the Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society. The environmental mitigation efforts carried out prior to the construction of the bridge have failed to keep the dolphins in the area, he said, but work on the project has nevertheless continued .
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"We can clearly see that dolphins in the North Lantau area have almost disappeared throughout the region, near the bridge construction," he said. "Nobody can really stop the project after [its proponents] got the environmental permits needed to go ahead with the bridge. "
The completion of the bridge comes as China under Xi extended its grip on Hong Kong, a city of 7.4 million people with special status when it was returned to China by the British in 1997.
As part of the "one country, two systems" policy, Hong Kong's economic and political systems are expected to remain intact for 50 years from the handover – until 2047 – and separate from Beijing, with its own governments, judicial systems, currencies, etc.
However, a wave of infrastructural development has made it possible to physically link the regions in a more tangible way. At the end of September, a $ 11 billion high-speed rail line was opened between Hong Kong and mainland China, reducing delays between Hong Kong and major Chinese cities.
Beijing hopes that these links will spur the development of these southern cities, which have always been the engines of economic growth in China, especially in the context of an impending trade war with the United States.
Xi's "made this week in southern China to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the economic reform policy led by Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s." Expressing Monday at Gree Electric Appliances in Zhuhai, Xi emphasized the importance of "autonomy" and "the real economy", rather than "the virtual economy".
"Manufacturing is a key to the real economy and the main strength of manufacturing is innovation, control of core technologies," he said. "We need to look for innovation by building on ourselves and I hope all companies will work in this direction."
Hong Kong is at the center of this plan, with deeper infrastructure links that will facilitate travel, especially from the mainland to the city.
Lam, the director general of Hong Kong, also advocates for a land reclamation plan that will be the most expensive infrastructure project ever, creating an artificial island that can accommodate more than one million people . This island will be created near the new sea crossing.
"Everything is connected, the refurbishment, the bridge, the high-speed train," said Mo. "Everything says in Hong Kong that you are part of China, that you are part of it and that you can not go out. . "
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge seen from a rooftop pool in Zhuhai, China. (Aly Song / Reuters)
Luna Lin in Beijing contributed to this article.
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