President opens world’s longest sea bridge
CHINESE President Xi Jinping announced the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge — the world’s longest sea bridge — at a ceremony in Zhuhai, south China’s Guangdong Province, yesterday.
Xi expressed sincere thanks to those who participated in the design, building and management of the bridge.
The 55km bridge, situated in the waters of Lingdingyang of Pearl River Estuary, connects the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Zhuhai and Macao. The bridge is the first of its kind for Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao to jointly build a supergiant seacrossing traffic project under the principle of “one country, two systems.”
Built with an investment of 126.9 billion yuan (US$18 billion), the gigantic project consists of a series of bridges, artificial islands and a tunnel that facilitates travel.
Li Xi, Guangdong Party secretary, Carrie Lam, chief executive of Hong Kong, Chui Sai On, chief executive of Macao, and Vice Premier Han Zheng delivered speeches respectively.
At about 10am, Xi walked up to the podium and announced the opening of the bridge. After the ceremony, Xi rode in a vehicle to tour and inspect the bridge. Xi ascended on a platform to overlook the bridge at the east artificial island, which is a key part of the bridge.
“You participated in the design, building, and maintenance of the bridge, gave full play to your talents and wisdom, and accomplished the tasks with good quality and quantity,” Xi said, adding that he is proud of such achievements.
Praising builders of the bridge for breaking a number of world records, Xi said they demonstrate the nation’s spirit of striving to overcome any difficulties, the national strength, the innovative ability, and the aspiration to be the world’s best. “With the bridge, we have further enhanced our confidence in the path, theory, system, and culture of socialism with Chinese characteristics,” Xi said.
The bridge should not only be structurally sound but also well managed, in a bid to contribute to the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, he said.
The construction of the bridge began on December 15, 2009, and its main structure was completed on July 7, 2017. The bridge will officially open to traffic at 9am today.
Zhang Jinwen, chief inspector of the bridge authority, said it was built like building blocks. From the immersed tube tunnel of the underwater sections, to bridge piers and filter covers, every component was churned out on production lines similar to automobile workshops, and fitted into place. The bridge has a dual three-lane motorway and the speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour on the main bridge.
Keep to the right
As the bridge is mostly located in mainland waters, vehicles will keep to the right of the road. Cars can change to the left after having passed the boundary checkpoints in Hong Kong and Macao.
Toll
The bridge authority will be in charge of the bridge toll. The toll is in yuan. The only toll plaza with 20 toll gates is located near the Macao and Zhuhai ports on the mainland side. All toll gates will be available for autotoll systems in Hong Kong and Guangdong Province. Besides cash, bank cards and e-payment such as WeChat Pay and Alipay are all available. The feasibility study started in March 2004 under State Council’s approval.