Long commute, cost of property and health care – just some of the concerns keeping Hongkongers from living in Zhuhai
- Few trains from Guangdong province cities arrive early enough for professionals looking to commute to work in Hong Kong
- The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge crossing presents an additional expense of HK$6,000 a month
Alan Lau is among early birds with licences allowing use of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. He got the licence, which cost him HK$400,000 (US$50,959), early last year.
The route saves him two hours. “I go to Zhuhai every week now. It presented a headache for me previously, and I would visit our local partners there just once a month,” he says.
But Lau, who expects more work in Zhuhai in the future, and expects to travel to the mainland China city a couple of times a week, is not considering moving to Zhuhai and working in Hong Kong.
“If you don’t have family there, why would you spend that much time and money travelling every day,” he said.
Lau owns a home larger than 800 sq ft in size near Gongbei port, which is 20 minutes away from the artificial island that connects Zhuhai and the bridge. It would sell for 2.5 million yuan (US$372,365), or HK$2.9 million, an amount that will only fetch him a “shoebox” apartment in Hong Kong measuring 151 sq ft.