Chinise President opens World's longest sea bridge

Tuesday, 23rd October 2018

Chinese President Xi Jinping officially opened the world's longest sea bridge connecting the coastal cities of Hong-Kong, Macau and Zhuhai.

The bridge has cost a whopping $20bn and took about nine years to complete.

Including its access roads, the bridge spans 55km (34 miles) and connects Hong Kong to Macau and the mainland Chinese city of Zhuhai.

The bridge had faced many safety issues and criticism from the public as according to officials 18 people had died on the project.

The bridge will open for regular traffic on Wednesday. Though the bridge aims to bring the autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau closer to mainland China, it will be accessible only to a select few.

People from Hong Kong will need special permits to drive across the bridge. There are reports that long-term permits to cross from Hong Kong to Zhuhai will be granted to people who meet strict criteria, such as paying significant taxes in China, donating large amounts of money to charities in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, or those who are members of one of several political organisations. Others can take a private shuttle bus. There is no public transport on the bridge.

The bridge, designed to withstand earthquakes and typhoons, was built using 400,000 tonnes of steel, enough to build 60 Eiffel Towers.

About 30km of its total length crosses the sea of the Pearl River delta. To allow ships through, a 6.7km section in the middle dips into an undersea tunnel that runs between two artificial islands.

The remaining sections are link roads, viaducts and land tunnels connecting Zhuhai and Hong Kong to the main bridge.

While the bridge is facing criticism due to death of 18 workers and several being injured working on the project, the authorities expects that it will generate around 10 trillion yuan for the economy.