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HONGKONG-CHINA-MACAU-BRIDGE-POLITICS-TRANSPORT
First journeys on Hong Kong-Macau-mainland mega bridge
HONG KONG, Oct 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The world’s longest sea bridge
connecting Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China opened to traffic Wednesday,
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 Chinese 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 55-kilometre (34-mile) 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 a politically driven and costly white elephant that 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 Wednesday when AFP took an early bus to Macau,
but passengers still recorded the whole trip on smartphones.
Traffic was light after criticism from some legislators and residents that
public access to the bridge is too limited.
“Every big infrastructure has a relatively low volume of passenger and
traffic flow in the initial period. It takes time to build up,” secretary for
transport and housing Frank Chan told reporters.
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 or making major contributions
to charities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.
Most people will need to go by bus.
Travellers go through immigration and customs points at both ends of the
bridge.
Chan did not say how many Hong Kong residents would travel the bridge
Wednesday but estimated 30,000 mainland Chinese visitors would make the
crossing into Hong Kong on the inaugural day.
The government had previously said the bridge would attract 29,000 vehicles
daily by 2030.
Bus journeys to Zhuhai should take 45 minutes, down from four hours.
An early bus trip into Macau’s Cotai casino hub took around an hour.
“The duration is similar to the ferry. I get a little dizzy on the ferry,
so the bus ride was more comfortable,” traveller Cheng told AFP after her
journey to Macau.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1240 hrs