Following our Zhuhai Spotlight we come to the Hong Kong – Zhuhai – Macau Bridge, after 6 years of construction the Hong Kong-Zhuhai Macau Bridge is scheduled to be opened for public use in 2016. The bridge which will stretch over 30 Km and will connect the cities of Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau together. Ever since the proposal of the bridge it has divided opinion. In this blog we will highlight the main arguments from both sides concerning the new Hong Kong- Zhuhai Macau Bridge.
Positives
Tourism
Supporters of the bridge argue that the connectivity of the bridge will cause the an increase in Tourism in all of the cities involved.
Property market
The bridge is also edged to bring huge benefits in the property markets over the cities. With Hong Kong’s stagnate property market experts believe that many Hong Kong residents will move to Zhuhai and then commute across the bridge. This will release pressure on Hong Kong’s property market while spurring high growth in Zhuhai. As a result Zhuhai has seen an explosion of high quality flats appearing near to the bridge road, the investment has stimulated a large amount of growth.
Increased connectivity
The connectivity of these three cities that the bridge will bring will have huge benefits. The bridge will reduce the driving time from Hong Kong to Macau from over 4 hours to less that one. As mentioned experts speculate huge benefits to the property market and also the tourism industry however there will be able benefits to trade and relationships between theses cities. Increased integration will most likely bring large economic benefits to these regions.
Negatives
Environmental
The bridge spans over 30 km of sea there are many fears that the construction of the bridge has not taken into account the environmental impact of building the bridge. Environmentalists are especially concerned about the pink dolphins in the area. Already an endangered species they are unique to the South China Sea. Noise for the construction of the bridge will most likely disturbed the dolphins and many experts believe the excessive noise will cause them to become lost and unable to communicate with each other. Also the affect of construction on the coral and the sea bed is estimated to have a very negative on the ecosystem in the near future.
High Cost
Costing over HK$132 bn the bridge is an extremely high cost project to connect these cities. As experts have deemed the bridge economically unjustifiable so residents of Hong Kong and Macau see the bridge as a waste of public money. Especially with recent discovery of bribery within the construction company
Economically unjustified
Even with the increased benefit to the property market and from increase in tourism, experts agree that the bridge will never be able to justify itself economically. As it cannot be justified economically there is a strong argument that the money used for the construction could have been to much better use in other areas. As the budget for the bridge keeps increasing some opposition to the bridge argue that the government is only creating a ‘white elephant’ that did not need to be made.
No matter what people think the affect of the bridge will be, the bridge has gone ahead and will be completed within the near future. However only time will tell to whenever this project will ever outweigh the huge costs that have occurred through its construction.
What is clear is that Zhuhai as a city will most definitely benefit from the arrival of the bridge. We have already experienced a very high level of growth in the construction industry with the sprouting of new flats. If the demand of Zhuhai property will increase as predicted many benefits will be brought to the area. A multiplier effect will occur across the whole of Zhuhai across a large amount of industries making if the perfect time to invest in Zhuhai.
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