The Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge seems like a foregone conclusion. It is to be built because Beijing has endorsed it, and there seems to be no opposition. It is taken for granted that the bridge will enhance the physical integration of the Pearl River Delta as a whole, and Hong Kong is prepared to fork out a large part of the cost. Indeed, it is assumed that Hong Kong will benefit greatly from its creation.
The authorities claim the bridge will deliver four 'macro socio-economic benefits': it will promote development of the western side of the Pearl River; reinforce Hong Kong's status as an international shipping and aviation centre; promote regional tourism industries; and perfect the regional transport network.
There has been very little in-depth examination of these claims as to how the benefits would be delivered, and hardly any deliberation about alternatives and opportunity costs. It is not easy to obtain much information about the bridge, as a comprehensive analysis of the underlying assumptions has not been released. The public is being asked to accept the spending of vast sums of money on its construction in good faith.
The more one thinks about it, the more unresolved issues there seem to be. One by one, these will come out, as the concrete is poured and the bridge takes shape. Is there really no time to allow for a serious debate about the bridge and the enormous sums involved? And what about the negative side effects of the project?
While something has been said about the destruction of the environment, including threatening the home of the pink dolphins, there are other obvious problems: what are our officials doing with Lantau Island?
The rhetoric is that Lantau has 10,000 hectares of country park, which is about 70 per cent of the land area, and that it represents a good balance between development and nature conservation. The reality is that, while the mountainous parts are 'protected', Lantau will be packed with more population and infrastructure that would otherwise not be planned if it wasn't for the bridge.
Planning, transport and highway officials are working to load up the accessible parts of Lantau with a very large logistics park that does not appear to be needed - even the industry has not clamoured for it - and many more homes are being planned for Tung Chung. Hong Kong spent billions to move the airport from southeast Kowloon to Lantau so that millions of people would no longer suffer excessive noise pollution. So why are we planning to put more people under jets' flight paths once more?