The lead arranger of capital loans for the private sector portion of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge is likely to be one of Mainland China’s big banks, according to sources in Hong Kong.
Bank of China and ICBC were two of the bidders for the lead role, according to reports in the specialist banking press. Given the size of the project, the lead institution will need to organise a syndicated facility shared between multiple lenders.
Final costs for such large infrastructure projects are notoriously difficult to estimate. Hong Kong’s Transport and Engineering Bureau recently played ‘pin the tail on the donkey’, with a figure of 36.7 billion yuan (USD5.37 billion) just for the main structure.
Ground breaking for the 40-kilometer bridge which will span one of the world’s widest river deltas, is likely to happen before the end of the year, though construction work proper will probably start in 2010.
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