Zhuhai bridge project proving 'very difficult'
Leading Guangdong planner admits link may not open until 2017 due to technical challenges
The bridge linking Hong Kong with Macau and Zhuhai might be delayed until 2017 or even later, a top Guangdong official has said.
The project, with an estimated total cost of HK$133 billion, has been hit by numerous technical challenges, and Li Chunhong, the director general of Guangdong's Development and Reform Commission, warns more problems could arise.
"I can just say it's very, very difficult to have the bridge put into use by 2016," Li said at a press conference at the provincial People's Congress in Guangzhou yesterday.
It was difficult to promise an opening even the following year. "It's hard to offer a fixed schedule … We don't know if there will be more problems ahead," Li said.
The 50km-long link consists of three cable-stayed bridges, two artificial islands, and a 6.7km-long immersed tube tunnel, situated off Lantau. Li said sinking and docking the tube tunnel was the most complicated part of the project.
The section consists of 33 tubes and the first one was successfully docked in May, 2013, Li said. "As of now, only 14 tubes have been docked and completed."
He said attempts since October to dock the 15th tube had failed because the volume of sand sediment on the seafloor was different. "We have analysed it for three months with all kinds of simulations by supercomputers, but finally, we're still unsure of the exact reason. It's too difficult," Li said.