7
1
3 -
According to our statistics, the total daily traffic figure at the Humen ferry crossing-point is about 7,500, of which 70% head for Shenzhen and Hong Kong. Only 30% of the vehicles go north to Dongguan and other districts of eastern Guangdong. The queues that line up for ferries at Humen are becoming quite a problem which cannot be solved even with the completion of the Humen Bridge in future. A cross-estuary bridge that links up Zhuhai with Shenzhen will divert much traffic away from the Humen Highway.
Thirdly, the proposed bridge can streamline the layout of China's coastal highway routes.
At present, our coastal highway
from Tongjiang in Northeast China, passes through Dalian and Yantai, moves south along the coastline to Shanghai, Shantou and Shenzhen, then moves north to Guangzhou, Foshan, south to
Zhanjiang and terminates at Sanya, Hainan island. This coastal highway is one of the 12 trunk roads in our country and serves as a transport corridor that links up the major cities in the eastern coast. With the completion of the cross-estuary bridge, a new coastal corridor that links up Hong Kong and Yangjiang via Zhuhai and Taishan will come into existence, shortening the existing route that runs from Hong Kong to Yangjiang via Guangzhou by 150 km. In other words, the proposed bridge will streamline and rationalise the layout of the coastal corridor.
Fourthly, the proposed bridge can open up an avenue leading to international market for the Southwest region of China.
At present, the Southwest Highway terminates at the coastal areas of Guangxi province and the southwestern coast of Guangdong. If the proposed bridge project extends westward to link up with the Southwest Highway, then the provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi and western Guangdong can form themselves into an
economic cooperative region which has its distance from Hong Kong being shortened by 200 km and will thus be in a better position to forge ahead towards the international market.
Fifthly, the proposed project will stimulate the economic development of western Guangdong, the western coast of Pearl River
River and Zhuhai City. At present, Hong Kong is the largest trading partner of Guangdong province. Within the
province, the western region and the western coast of Pearl River are richer than the eastern region in terms of resources and