1 HK and Guangdong to sign deal today on HK$40b bridge
Chloe Lai in Guangzhou, SCMP Updated on Aug 05, 2008
Donald Tsang meets Wang Yang in Guangzhou. Photo: Information Services Dept Source: SCMP
After years of talks and rounds of negotiations, Hong Kong and Guangdong will sign a deal today on the HK$40 billion Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai bridge.
Guangdong party chief Wang Yang broke the news yesterday when he met Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and the Hong Kong delegation to the 11th annual meeting of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference.
The three governments - Hong Kong, Guangdong and Macau - agreed in February on a funding arrangement to cover any shortfall between construction costs and investment by the private contractors who win the bid for the project.
Under what was described as a cost-benefit principle, Hong Kong would cover 50.2 per cent of the shortfall, Guangdong 35.1 per cent and Macau 14.7 per cent.
It is understood, however, that there will be changes to the funding arrangement: the three governments will finance the bridge directly, to speed its construction.
Hong Kong and Guangdong will also sign supplementary agreements to enrich the content of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement's latest phase.
Mr Wang pledged that there would be increasing co-operation between the two sides, and that Guangdong would unveil more favourable measures.
"Guangdong has unique conditions to strengthen its co-operation with Hong Kong," he said. "There will be a bridge for Guangdong to reach out to the world market. The Pearl River Delta will be the most competitive region in the world in 30 years."
Mr Tsang, meanwhile, pledged that Hong Kong would help Guangdong develop its economy, and he outlined five main areas of co-operation in the coming year. The priority will be on service industries that Cepa has opened up.
The city will also help Guangdong upgrade its economic structure, including secondary-processing businesses from Hong Kong operating in the province.
Other focuses at this year's meeting will be cross-border infrastructure projects and improving the environment of the delta region.
Shortly after arriving in Guangzhou, Mr Tsang visited the laboratory of a Hong Kong-listed wireless communications company in the Sciences City. He also visited Xinyi International Club. This used to be a cluster of obsolete factory buildings but has become a creative-industry centre that houses galleries and offices.
