The governments of Hong Kong, Guangdong, and Macau yesterday endorsed the financing scheme for bridges linking the three places and the massive project will soon proceed to public tenders.It is expected a number of state- owned enterprises will play a major role in building the bridges.
The Hong Kong listed China Communication Construction Company (1800) and China Railway (0390) have a long history in building infrastructure projects in the mainland, Hong Kong and overseas.
China Railway Construction, which will open its retail sales book in Hong Kong today, is also said to have the capability to handle multi-billion-yuan projects.
However, neither company responded last night to a question from The Standard whether they were interested in bidding for the project.
Hopewell Holdings (0054) co- managing director Thomas Wu Man- sun said Hopewell Highway (0737) could be among the bidders.
He said Hopewell Highway had the financial capability, with around HK$6 billion in cash and a further HK$3 billion in borrowing.
Wu said his company has had discussions with the three state enterprises on the construction of bridges before but refused to say whether they discussed the Hong Kong- Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.
Wu's father, Gordon Wu Ying- sheung, had been advocating the construction of such a bridge since the 1980s.
Shun Tak group chairman Stanley Ho Hung-sun said he too is interested in bidding for the project.
Under the agreement Hong Kong will meet just over hal
f the total cost, at 50.2 percent, with Guangdong chipping in 35.1 percent and Macau 14.7 percent.The equation takes into account the economic benefits to each side, such as the savings in transport costs and time, as well as the costs to each side in building their own connecting roads.
Mainland officials said last year Hong Kong's economic benefits could reach 64 percent compared with 26 percent for Guangdong and 10 percent for Macau.
Eva Cheng Yu-way, convenor of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Advance Work Co-ordination Group said yesterday the main body of the bridge will go to tender in its entirety.
"The three sides agreed that the three governments would be responsible for the construction and operation of the boundary crossing facilities and the connecting roads to the bridge within their own territory," Cheng said.
She added the connecting roads are about 12.6 kilometers on the Hong Kong side with the mainland responsible for 13.9 kilometers.
Under the proposed construction package, the main body of the bridge will be about 29.6km.
To the west, it lands on the artificial island off Gongbei, and to the east it lands on the eastern artificial island for the tunnel section just west of the Guangdong boundary.
It will be a six-lane expressway allowing for vehicle speeds of 100 kilometers an hour.
To ensure unimpeded sea traffic along the main navigation channels towards the Guangzhou and Shenzhen ports, there will be a tunnel linking up the two artificial islands that provide the bridge/tunnel switching facilities.
National People's Congress local deputy Cheng Yiu-tong warned the future actual economic benefits may be different from what is expected.
He said if vehicles using the bridge have to pay tolls, the profits should be divided along the same percentages as the costs.
