Another bridge to Lantau planned
A second bridge connecting Tsing Yi and Lantau was being planned by the government for the city's long-term development, a senior administration official said yesterday.
Director of Highways Wai Chi-sing disclosed the plan at an industry forum on infrastructure projects in the Pearl River Delta region.
Describing the idea as 'preliminary', Wai said the second bridge was a long-term project and would only be built when traffic on the Tsing Ma Bridge was close to saturation point.
Completed in 1997, the Tsing Ma Bridge cost HK$7.2 billion. It links Tsing Yi Island to Ma Wan and is part of a route to the airport.
The Legislative Council has so far approved a total of HK$250 billion for transport projects over the past five years. Wai said he expected public spending on rail and road links to grow considerably in the next few years, but did not give any estimate. 'Infrastructure development is a key driver to Hong Kong's economic growth,' he said.
He also said the authority to be set up by Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macau to oversee the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge would be governed by mainland laws, as most of the bridge would lie in mainland territory.
Guangdong will head a committee that will make key decisions on a multibillion-dollar highway across the Pearl River Delta. The committee will be sandwiched between a high-level body comprising Beijing representatives, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Communications, and a new bureau to oversee the bridge's daily operation.
Ground investigation work on Hong Kong border facilities for the bridge will begin tomorrow - nine months after Guangdong began the main surveying work.
