The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will be completed by the end of the year, according to the project’s chief engineer, with construction now “95% complete.”
The comments from Lin Ming were made to China Daily during an impromptu interview at a bridge construction site in Zhuhai, with the engineer and general manager also revealing that delegates from Spain had visited the site and approached him about the potential for applying similar technology to a potential bridge-tunnel across the Strait of Gibraltar.
The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, one of a number of key infrastructure projects to benefit Macau’s gaming and tourism industry, stretches 55 kilometers across the Pearl River Delta and includes a 6.7-kilometer tunnel section.
However, it hasn’t come cheap with the South China Morning Post revealing that the cost of the project has exceeded its budget by HK$11.8 billion. The original cost of the bridge was estimated at HK$36.5 billion in 2008, with Hong Kong to pay 50.2%, mainland China 35.1% and Macau 14.7%.