Zhuhai authorities have scrapped plans to build a US$2 billion bridge to connect Zhuhai and Hong Kong across the Pearl River Delta.
They decided against building the 27-kilometre bridge after studying a reassessment of vehicle forecasts that indicated earlier predictions were overly optimistic given the level of business activity between Hong Kong and Zhuhai, the Guangdong Daily reported.
The authorities had estimated there would be initial daily traffic flow of 36,238 vehicles in 2005, rising to 93,407 vehicles a day by 2020.
Highways Department officials in Hong Kong were unaware that Lingdingyang bridge, which had been slated for completion in 2006, had been scrapped.
'[However], we've always believed the bridge was marginal, and have concentrated our efforts on the Shenzhen western corridor [link road] that will link the northwest New Territories with western Shenzhen,' a department official said.
The official went on to describe the Lingdingyang bridge as a 'dreamland project'.
'The justification for building the bridge is minimal,' he said.