Guangzhou, China, 6 Aug – Hong Kong, Macau and
Guangdong have agreed to jointly fund the building of a bridge to link the three
regions with mainland China bearing the brunt of the project, estimated at 3.7
billion euros.
Following a meeting in Guangzhou, Donald Tsang, chief
executive of Hong Kong, said the bridge will be funded with 7 billion yuan from
Guangdong, 6.75 billion yuan from Hong Kong and 1.98 billion yuan from
Macau.
Total investment by the three regional governments – 15.73 billion
yuan – represents 42 percent of the bridges construction costs. The rest of the
financing will come from bank loans and building is expected to begin by 2010 at
the latest.
The “Y”-shaped bridge, with a length between 30 and 35
kilometers and several tunnels under shipping lanes, has a total estimated cost
of 40 billion yuan. Two islands will be built at the bridge’s ends to give
access to Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau.(macauNews)
