Macau has already paid until now about 2.6 billion yuan (3.32 billion patacas) for its share of the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge, according to Macau television news (TDM).
The television station said that the increase of investment, related with the growth of the expenses for materials and human resources, had Macau government paying 590 million yuan (743 million patacas) more than previously estimated.
Last year, the project registered an increase of 4.7 billion yuan due to readjustments on the construction and increases on the materials and manpower’s salaries.
The increase was actually less than what was estimated in November last year, when a statement from the Infrastructure Development Office mentioned that additional costs would be up to 11 billion yuan.
Macau government allocated a total of 2.57 billion yuan (3.28 billion patacas) to cover the construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.
The figures are explained by the substitute coordinator of the GID, in two separate answers to Macau legislators Mak Si Kun and Ng Kuok Cheong.
According to an agreement signed by the three regions in 2010, Macau was responsible for the payment of 12.59 percent of the total costs of the main construction works for the bridge, which stand at 38.118 billion yuan.
That meant that the bill for Macau was 1.98 million yuan, an amount paid in 2017 by the local government according to the “progress of the construction”, according to the Infrastructure Development Office (GID).
The 2010 agreement, however, also stated that all the regions had to support extra charges over project delays, no matter if they were or not to blame.
According to TDM news, among the three regions, Macao Special Administrative Region is the one paying less for the project, as the percentage was decided according to the proportion of benefits the new infrastructure would bring to each territory.
