Longest bridge open for business
– The world’s longest sea bridge connecting Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China opened to traffic yesterday, with excited travellers making their first journeys along what has been described as a politically driven and costly white elephant.
Passengers and tour groups gathered at Hong Kong’s cross-border coach terminus and bus operators gave away pastries and roasted meat to passengers.
“I wanted to try this and see if it’s convenient. I’ll be checking out the view too – after all, this is a historic engineering project,” said Angie Cheng, 58, who was taking the second bus of the day out to Macau.
The 55km crossing links Hong Kong with the southern mainland city of Zhuhai and the gambling enclave of Macau, across the waters of the Pearl River Estuary.
Supporters have hailed it as an engineering triumph but detractors say it is part of an attempt by Beijing to integrate semi-autonomous Hong Kong into the mainland.
It is the second major infrastructure project tying Hong Kong to mainland China to open within weeks. A high-speed rail link began operations last month, sparking criticism Hong Kong was giving away territory, with part of the terminus under mainland jurisdiction.
With a sweeping view of the ocean, mountains and rocky islets, the bridge was partly shrouded in haze yesterday, but passengers still recorded the trip on smartphones.
Only 10 000 licences have been granted to Hong Kong residents to drive private cars to Zhuhai if they meet highly selective criteria, including holding certain mainland government positions.
Most people will need to go by bus.
Travellers go through immigration and customs points at both ends of the bridge.