The chief engineer of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, Su Quanke, said Thursday in Beijing that the completion of the mega-bridge project paves the foundation for the development of the country’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Su made the remarks while speaking to reporters yesterday morning prior to the closing meeting of the first session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Su, a member of the CPPCC National Committee, said that the completion of the delta bridge marked two “great” breakthroughs.
Su said the first breakthrough was that the bridge’s completion had proved the top international position of the nation’s “bridge-tunnel” construction capability, thanks to advanced construction techniques and equipment management experience, adding that the bridge’s completion paved the foundation for Chinese enterprises to go overseas and assist in the development of the central government’s B&R Initiative.
Su said that the second breakthrough was that the delta bridge is the first large-scale infrastructure cooperation project jointly undertaken by Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau, adding that the project was an example of the three jurisdictions ability to work together to make plans and decisions and come up with solutions. He added that such achievements will be of great value for future cooperation projects.
According to Su, there are still three issues to be addressed to further improve the bridge project. The first issue is to come up with a plan to regulate the cross-border traffic involving the three places and improve the efficiency of the bridge’s usage, he said.
Su said the second issue was to ensure that the bridge’s maintenance will be well carried out, which, according to Su, can be regarded as a world-class challenge, given the huge size of the project.
Su said the third issue was to utilise the experience gained by the planning, preparations and construction of the bridge that took 14 years, and then to develop a sustainable model based on cooperation among Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau.
The checkpoint administrative zone on a man-made island was already handed over to the local government by the State Council.
