The HKD133 billion bridge linking Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai will miss its 2016 deadline by a year, the Hong Kong government has confirmed. The Hong Kong Highways Department has said that the boundary crossing facilities and linking road will not be completed by the end of 2016. Referring to the project as “huge and complicated”, the department said there were many technical challenges during both the design and construction stages.
The official announcement comes after the Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) revealed that the delay could be longer, since the suppliers of construction materials involved with the HKD30.4 billion Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities reclamation site have said that they have been told, by their customers working on the project, that the facilities are unlikely to be completed before 2021. According to what the suppliers have recounted, they understand that the project is running up to five years overtime.
The crossing facilities, which are being built next to Hong Kong International Airport, constitute a critical part of Hong Kong’s share of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB) project. Of the 150-hectare artificial island, 130 hectares will be used for passenger and cargo clearing while 20 hectares will provide the landing point for the tunnel connecting to Tuen Mun.
The facilities are regarded as essential for permitting traffic to flow effectively across the new bridge, but there have been recurring problems with the project which have incessantly stalled progress on the boundary crossing infrastructure.
Behind the alleged five-year delay have been a series of problems impacting the project, from a shortage of critical resources and manpower, to unexpected movements of the sea-wall and the misalignment of tunnel segments.
For example, unanticipated movements of the reclamation sites – particularly the sea-wall – have caused logistical headaches for planners, and have stalled further progress while the challenge is being addressed. Engineers say that the movement is due to the pace of the reclamation process, which has resulted in too much weight being applied too quickly.
Indeed, Hong Kong’s Highways Department admitted that movement “of up to six or seven meters” has occurred in some parts of the reclamation, but suggested that it was in response to the adoption of a new type of sea-wall construction method which is being used in the SAR for the first time.
According to the HKFP, the Highways Department told them that the movement was “normal” and that the delays were due to a shortage of labor, scarce supply of materials, and constraints imposed through environmental protection requirements.
One engineer contested the statement and told HKFP: “If it was normal then the time would have been built into the program and the contractors that are supplying the infrastructure on top of the island would have had a different timetable.” He added, “There’s a substantial delay because there is a significant problem.”
Some analysts suspect that the delays to the project are likely to cause heavy compensation claims which could inflate the costs of the project from its current HKD30.4 billion. In fact, the Highways Department has already requested an additional HKD5 billion which is currently awaiting approval from the Legislative Council.
The construction of the main bridge began in December 2009. The 50 kilometer link consists of three cable-stayed bridges, two artificial islands, and a 6.7km-long immersed tube tunnel, situated off Lantau Island. Staff reporter
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