HK-mainland infrastructure ‘key to development’
It’s imperative for Hong Kong to strengthen its crossboundary infrastructure for the city to play a crucial role in the country’s economic development, the special administrative region’s No 2 official said on Sunday.
“Only by laying a solid infrastructure foundation can Hong Kong give full play to its unique strengths in national development plans,” said Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung.
Writing in his weekly blog, he specifically cited such mega projects as the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-ShenzhenHong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL) and the Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point (LHBC), all of which are nearing completion and due to go into service in the coming year.
“Opportunities only favor those who are prepared,” Cheung said, adding that as key development plans, including the GuangdongHong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area project, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao cooperation plan and the Belt and Road Initiative, are laid out, Hong Kong has favorable prospects.
By taking part in national strategies, Hong Kong will not only continue to go global, it will go “farther and faster”, he said.
Although a precise timetable for the HZMB’s opening has yet to be announced, Cheung said the world’s longest bridge-cum-tunnel project will bring the west bank of the Pearl River estuary into a “three-hour drive” radius, describing the change as of “strategic significance”.
Equally strategic is the XRL, which is expected to be completed by the third quarter
Only by laying a solid infrastructure foundation can Hong Kong give full play to its unique strengths in national development plans.” Matthew Cheung Kin-chung,
Briefly
of next year. It will not only drastically cut the travel time from Hong Kong to various mainland cities, but also link up the SAR with the national high-speed rail network.
The LHBC — the seventh land boundary checkpoint between Hong Kong and Shenzhen — is also due to open late next year. Located at the east part of the boundary, the new checkpoint will serve mainly commuters from farther areas of Guangdong and neighboring provinces, according to Cheung.
In the field of innovation, research and development, Huizhou — one of the cities included in the Greater Bay Area — has been investing in the sector and, to maintain the development momentum, Hong Kong has reserved 56 hectares of land for science and technology development, as well as industrial use, Cheung said.
The move will boost economic development in the New Territories and address an unbalanced allocation of development opportunities in the city.
A feasibility report is expected early next year, Cheung said.
Xujiahui Cathedral, also known as St. Ignatius Cathedral of Shanghai, was filled with people on Saturday as it hosted its first Mass after a two-year restoration project.
With two parallel bell towers soaring to the sky, the 57-meter-high cathedral is