Major tunnel for HKZhuhai-Macao Bridge completed
Smart manufacturing contributes, but still at an early stage
The success of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge will help Chinese standards go global, bringing patents, expertise and technologies to other countries and regions, an expert told the Global Times.
The comment came after media reports that the Gongbei Tunnel, a major project for the bridge linking Zhuhai in South China’s Guangdong Province with the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, was completed on Saturday.
The 2,741-meter-long tunnel, which has been under construction for more than five years, is the only passage connecting the main body of the bridge with Zhuhai, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Saturday, citing China Railway Construction Corp.
The two-way tunnel has six lanes and is 21 meters high, and it had an excavation area of 336.8 square meters, bigger than any other highway tunnel in the world, according to the company.
“The number of patents related to the bridge surpassed 1,000, filling a gap in domestic standards. It’s not only the world’s longest sea bridge, with the most steel used for immersed tubes, but also an ‘encyclopedia’ of sea bridges,” Wei Dongqing, deputy Party head and director of administration of the bridge authority, told the Global Times.
The construction of the bridge followed some of the toughest standards in the world.
Meng Fanchao, chief engineer of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, said the structure, just like a deluxe wristwatch, is a work of high precision.
“The measurement accuracy of the huge structural elements is calculated in millimeters,” he noted.
Technological standards for the bridge have achieved global levels and can drive the development of the whole industry, experts noted.
For example, using floating crane ships to lift steel box girders over the sea is a breakthrough that was unimaginable 15 years ago when China had no such ships, Wei said, noting that the success of the
bridge will help Chinese technologies and standards in the sector go global.
“Now, Made-in-China products are comh mon, which can be seen everywhere in the US. In the fufuture, we should attach impor tance to not only Chinese equipment manufacturing
“Now, Made in China products are common, which can be seen everywhere in the US. In the future, we should attach importance to not only Chinese equipment manufacturing but also Chinese standards.”
Wei Dongqing Deputy Party head and director of administration of the bridge authority
but also Chinese standards,” Wei said. This means bringing Chinese patents, technologies and expertise to other markets, with an emphasis on intellectual property rights, he noted.
The bridge is only an example of China’s industrial transition, Meng said, adding it represents the country’s development direction, namely an industrial transition to advanced and smart manufacturing.
However, Tian Yun, director of the China Society of Macroeconomics Research Center, said that while it’s true that China’s infrastructure sector – including bridges, ports, tunnels and high-speed railways – leads the world, other sectors such as machinery equipment haven’t reached the same level.
China’s smart manufacturing is still at the exploratory stage and has a large gap with the same sector in developed, industrialized countries, according to a report jointly released by the China Enterprise Confederation and China Association for Science and Technology in December 2017.
It said that the country is weak in the supply of major technological equipment, there has not been a clear route to promote smart manufacturing and many small and medium-sized enterprises’ initiative hasn’t been given full play.
“Progress in smart manufacturing is closely related to basic scientific research. But China still lags behind the US, European countries and Japan in this regard. How can China catch up without breakthroughs in basic scientific research in a short time?” Tian said.
The State Council, China’s cabinet, announced a plan to increase support for basic scientific research with the hope that China will be a global leader in science and innovation in 30 years.
According to the 2017 version of the “Made in China 2025” Key Area Technology Road Map released on January 26, 2018, the country’s key development sectors such as communications, transport and power equipment will lead global technological innovation.