Jake's View | Nothing about the HK-Zhuhai-Macau bridge adds up, even the cost overruns are fake news
The bridge will be open and available at just about the time that our container port goes into a steep decline
Hongkongers are set to foot a bigger bill than expected for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge after latest estimates showed the cost for the bridge had overrun by one third or HK$11.8 billion.
SCMP, November 23
Personally I would rate this news up there with the thrilling announcement that sunrise tomorrow will take place in the morning and the sun will be in the east when it happens.
Has anyone yet heard of a government concrete pouring project in Hong Kong that did not go into huge cost overruns? They all do. The engineers build it into their equations. Why waste an opportunity to underbid and then ask for more money later when you know you will always get that money?
At present our part of the bill, including for the Hong Kong border facilities, stands at HK$110 billion (US$14.08 billion) approved by the Legislative Council. The final accounting may still be less than HK$150 billion. Then again it may not. What is certain is that no figure even remotely so high was mooted at the start.
Mega bridge project set to exceed budget by more than HK$11 billion
What do we get for this?