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1. Alternative bridge plan aims for 2010 opening

1. Alternative bridge plan aims for 2010 opening
GARY CHEUNG, SCMP 30 September 2002

An alternative proposal for a bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau, Zhuhai and Shenzhen, outlined in a study sponsored by a Hong Kong company, could be finished by 2010 if it wins approval from the mainland and SAR governments.

Sources close to the study said the proposed bridge, which includes a rail link, could recover investment seven or eight years after completion.

A research team in Guangdong is expected to submit its study report to the Li & Fung Foundation, which is behind the alternative bridge plan, at the end of November. The foundation is headed by Airport Authority chairman Victor Fung Kwok-king.

During his visit to France yesterday, Premier Zhu Rongji said the Zhuhai-Hong Kong bridge proposal was not on the list of projects awaiting central government approval. "There are different views in Hong Kong and Guangdong province, with some people opposing the project," he said, "We will gather opinions on the project first."

Details of the Li & Fung plan were revealed after the South China Morning Post reported on Saturday that a mainland delegation from the Transport Research Institute of the State Development Planning Commission secretly visited Hong Kong last week to gather data and opinions on the bridge idea.

There has been heated debate over the past few months on another plan drafted by Hopewell Holdings chairman Sir Gordon Wu Ying-sheung.

Li & Fung's research team, which began the study in July, will put forward two or three options for the route of the proposed bridge, including a landing at Tuen Mun or Lantau Island.

Sources said this proposal would link rail and road networks in Hong Kong and the mainland.

"Tunnels may be built where the water is deep, like Ling Ding Sea off Lung Ku Tan in Tuen Mun," one source said.

The study also covers future estimates of traffic flow and growth of cargo between Hong Kong and the west bank of the Pearl River Delta.

Professor Lei Qiang, of the Hong Kong-Macau-Pearl River Delta Research Centre at the Zhongshan University in Guangzhou, said a bridge linking Hong Kong and the west bank of the delta could strengthen Hong Kong's role as a logistics hub.

"The economy of the west bank of the delta enjoyed economic growth of more than 10 per cent a year over the past few years, surpassing the annual nine per cent of the whole Guangdong Province," he said.

Professor Lei, who advises the Guangdong provincial government on cross-border infrastructure projects, said the volume of cargo from the west bank was likely to increase at a pace faster than that of economic growth.

There were 1.6 million containers from Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Jiangmen transported to Hong Kong for re-exports in 2000. Kwai Chung handled 11.28 million containers last year.