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The Pearl
River gets a necklace
By Sam Ng
HONG KONG - While the the shoppers and gamblers
of Macau and Hong Kong and the governments of their two
special administrative regions (SARs) are
enthusiastically embracing the idea of a massive, US$1.9
billion bridge between the two cities and neighboring
Zhuhai City, their counterparts in Guangdong are not so
enthusiastic, nor are the wharfage and harbor tycoons
who stand to lose from it.
There is little doubt
that the 29-kilometer bridge, which would skip from
Lantau Island in Hong Kong to Macau and Zhuhai City
across the border from the Macau enclave, would be of
considerable overall economic benefit to the entire
Pearl River Delta, especially with Hong Kong having
endured continuous deflation for 54 straight months
through June and Macau suffering similar economic
distress.
Hong Kong's indefatigable gamblers,
now hauled in their hundreds daily on jetfoil ferries to
Macau, could make the trip by car or bus. Macau's
shoppers could head the other way, perhaps visiting the
Disneyland that is also being built on Lantau and which
is due to open in 2006. Stanley Ho, the legendary
gambling czar of Macau, is so eager for the bridge that
he has offered to contribute his own money.
So
is the major figure behind the project, Gordon Wu, the
construction magnate who heads Hong Kong-based Hopewell
Holdings. Since the Asian financial meltdown of 1997-98,
Wu has become almost as well known for abandoning huge
construction projects as he is for finishing them. Just
this week, he walked away from a stalled Indonesian
power project that had cost US$640 million. His Bangkok
skytrain project includes a row of unfinished concrete
steles from downtown to Don Muang Airport.
Today, however, Wu is seeking funding for what
would be one of the world's longest bridges (the No 1
title is held by the Second Lake Pontchartrain Causeway
in the US state of Louisiana, at 38.5km). However,
officials of Hutchison Whampoa and Wheelock, two of Hong
Kong's biggest trading and wharfage companies, say no
government subsidies should be used to build it.
The Guangdong government is having second
thoughts on the bridge because of its aspirations to
replace Hong Kong as the finance and logistics center of
the region. The development of the Nansha port, which is
situated at the center of the Pearl Delta, is one of the
strategic plans to fulfill this goal. The building of
the bridge, however, would consolidate Hong Kong's role
as the logistics and trade center of the region and may
deal a death blow to the Nansha project.
A week
ago, the Chinese National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) agreed publicly to proceed with the
project after meeting with officials from the three
regions concerned. The commission favors a
single-Y-shaped design put forward by Hong Kong instead
of a double Y that would also link the industrial area
of Shenzhen, as suggested by Guangdong. Under the
single-Y design, the bridge would originate from Lantau
then connect to Macau and Zhuhai city in Guangdong
province. A Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint
Conference was to discuss details on Tuesday.
While media in the two SARs gave significant
coverage on the issue last Friday, their counterparts in
Guangdong kept silent, an indication of the Guangdong
officials' lukewarm attitude.
After the meeting
in Beijing last Thursday, Donald Tsang, chief secretary
for administration of the Hong Kong government,
disclosed that officials had reached agreement that
among several proposals linking Hong Kong to the western
part of the Pearl River Delta, the Hong
Kong-Macau-Zhuhai sea bridge would bring the best social
and economic benefits. On Monday, Hong Kong Chief
Executive Tung Chee-hwa and Guangdong Governor Huang
Huahua co-chaired the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation
Joint Conference and further discussed details.
Tsang expressed hope that the State Council
would soon approve the project so that the regions
involved could finalize financial arrangements, relevant
connecting points, hydrology studies and construction
details, and then call for worldwide tenders. He did not
hint at the timetable of earliest completion and only
said the project was of high priority.
He
stressed that constructing the bridge would help
stimulate economic development in the western Pearl
River Delta and provide Hong Kong with more convenience
and business opportunities. The time needed for driving
from the west of the Pearl River Delta to Hong Kong
would be shortened by half an hour, or 30km, hence
creating a "living circle within a three-hour drive",
which would be especially convenient for Guangdong
residents wishing to pay a one-day visit to Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, large cities in western Guangdong
such as Yangjiang and Zhanjiang would also be included
in the circle, enhancing their competitiveness in
tourism, trade, transportation and logistics.
Macau is keeping a low profile. Chief Executive
Edmond Ho said the NDRC had reached preliminary
consensus with officials in Hong Kong, Guangdong and
Macau, with considerable follow-up necessary. He
reiterated that Macau was willing to support the project
fully because of its impact on the whole Pearl River
Delta, the home of some 50 million people. Business
circles in Macau should adjust their strategies in time
to embrace the opportunities and challenges of such a
project, he said.
Every plan has its pros and
cons, Ho said, adding that while Macau's overall economy
would benefit, some would benefit more than others, who
would face challenges and threats or even elimination.
The Macau government, he said, would seek to provide
favorable conditions for economic development.
An economist from Macau commented during the
meeting that the single-Y-shaped bridge is probably more
strategically beneficial to Macau and the rest of the
Pearl River Delta than economically. If anything, he
said, the government should keep development in check
lest a bubble economy should emerge. He agreed that
large-scale infrastructure construction may offer a
convergence for economic integration among the two SARs
and the Pearl Delta, whose highway network again propels
the regional economic cooperation, thus further
improving the whole delta's competitive edge. Yet some
Macanese industries will face heavy financial pressure
unless they optimize resource allocation in advance.
Final details on design and location of the
bridge are are yet to be determined, an official from
the Guangdong provincial Development and Reform
Commission was quoted as saying.
(Copyright 2003
Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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