INFRASTRUCTURE | Conflicting viewpoints on Delta Bridge

There are conflicting viewpoints about the disadvantages and benefits of the USD133b Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (Delta Bridge), Time Out HK reflected in a feature article recently.
The 50-kilometer bridge, which will link three of the biggest Pearl River Delta cities, is due to open in 2016.
The magazine cites advocates and opponents of the project to analyze whether it “will fail like a white elephant or herald the start of a beautiful relationship between the three cities that it links together”.
Among the anti-bridge proponents is Bob McKercher, professor of tourism management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, who says that there’s certainly no economic justification in building a bridge.
“When you look at the numbers, it’s a complete white elephant. It will never pay for itself. And right now the traffic flow will only ever go one way –
and that’s from Hong Kong to Zhuhai and Macau. There just isn’t enough of a population to have traffic flowing the other way. And the only real beneficiaries of the bridge will perhaps be Disney, the airport and Ngong Ping. I can’t see anybody else in Hong Kong benefitting from it,” Mr McKercher argues.
The scholar refuted that the Hong Kong tourism industry will benefit from the bridge, stating that “people in Zhuhai are not going to come to Hong Kong because they can get everything they need in Macau. The studies that I’ve looked at indicate that there was a huge demand initially, but other studies have indicated that the bridge would never pay for itself. To me, this is just another unnecessary piece of infrastructure that has been justified by the god of tourism, by people who just don’t understand tourism.”
The bridge’s opponents also highlight the environmental impact of the mega-structure, namely contribution to air pollution and the destruction of marine habitats during its construction, particularly in relation to the endangered pink dolphins.
Bridge supporters like Stephen Townsend, director of urban design at architectural firm Gensler Asia, think otherwise. Mr Townsend claims that the city of Zhuhai can become an option to those who are affected by the undesirable high housing prices in Hong Kong.
“I think that real estate prices are going to skyrocket in Zhuhai because of the bridge, like in Shenzhen 20 years ago,” he says. “It brings services and spontaneous informal access directly from Hong Kong that we didn’t have before. Now I can have a house in Zhuhai at a third of the price and three times the space, and actually work in Hong Kong,” he says.
According to the Hong Kong Highways Department the journey time between Hong Kong International Airport and Zhuhai will be reduced from its current four hours or so to about 45 minutes.
Allen Ha, chairman of the Lantau Development Alliance, cites trade, logistics and tourism gains as foreseen results from the bridge. “It will also be beneficial for our airport in terms of connectivity with the rest of the world. But, right now, if we just build the bridge, the tourists may still just go and stay at the traditional places [like Tsim Sha Tsui]. Our proposal then is to increase our receiving capacity in Lantau by building new hotels, which can help alleviate some of the tourist overflow in Hong Kong. Ultimately, we’re looking at a bigger area than Macau, Zhuhai and Hong Kong. We’re talking about the population in the whole Pearl River Delta, and allowing people to travel to a new place within an hour,” Ha claimed.
It remains to be seen whether or not the Delta Bridge brings more pros than cons, but the Time Out HK feature rightly points out that there’s no turning back. “It’s too late – we’re already building it,” says Stephen Townsend.

Additional funding needed

The Hong Kong government announced earlier this month that it is seeking an additional USD5 billion in funding for an artificial island off the coast of eastern Lantau. The island will form part of the bridge’s road network. According to the Time Out HK report the request “is on top of the USD83b that Hong Kong is already contributing to the $132.9b project”.