Experts weigh in on landing sites for Pearl River bridge
Possible landing sites for the planned Pearl River Delta bridge are now being thrashed out in Zhuhai by officials and experts from Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong and Beijing.
But doubts remain as to whether the 100-strong group will be able to choose between landing points at Gongbei in Zhuhai and Perola in Macau or on Hengqin Island in Zhuhai and at Pac On in Macau.
The two-day meeting is due to end today. Its recommendations will be sent to the State Council for approval.
Funding and environmental issues are also on the table in the closed-door session, which includes officials from the State Development and Reform Commission.
The Hong Kong team is headed by Secretary for the Environment, Transport and Works Sarah Liao Sau-tung. Her press secretary yesterday said they would not comment on the meeting.
A spokesman for the bureau said: 'The meeting is focused on the landing site and we will continue to talk about it tomorrow.'
Any announcement would be made after the delegation returned to Hong Kong, he said.
It was not clear if the experts and officials would be able to resolve all their differences by the end of the two-day meeting and submit a recommendation to the central government for approval.
It is known that Zhuhai and Guangdong favour Hengqin and Pac On, while Hong Kong prefers Gongbei and Perola.
Local media in Guangdong reported that the experts were leaning in favour of Gongbei and Perola or even that Hengqin had been ruled out.
Choosing Gongbei and Perola would lower construction costs and shorten construction time while boosting Zhuhai's aspirations to develop its hi-tech and tourism industries, putting it just 30 minutes away from Hong Kong's airport and Disneyland.
Detractors, however, point to lack of space and heavy congestion at the Gongbei checkpoint, which processes 50 million entries and exits each year.
Gongbei has been picked to be a hub of the Pearl River Delta Intra-city rail network and the terminal of the Guangzhou-Zhuhai railway link.
The Hengqin-Pac On site is ideally located for links with the North-South highway linking Zhuhai with Jiangmen , the coastal highway and the eastern branch of the Guangzhou-Zhuhai expressway and would boost western Guangdong's development.
Another advantage to choosing Hengqin Island as a landing point is that the provincial government is pushing for it to be turned into a development zone of Pan Pearl River Delta co-operation.
The major drawback to the site is that it would significantly lengthen the bridge and construction time besides duplicating the Lianhua bridge, which now links Macau to Hengqin.
Additional reporting by Ivan Zhai and Martin Wong
