Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge — was built at all costs, explained in 500 words
Delays, budget overruns, construction problems — Hong Kong’s mega-bridge project.
Delays, budget overruns, construction problems — the world’s largest sea bridge and a second mega-project from China after the recent opening of the Express Rail Link. However, like the previous project, it was built on controversies.
The opening date of the bridge was postponed multiple times due to the delay in construction which was only completed in February 2018 as well as disputes regarding mechanisms on customs and immigration as well as customs clearance which had to be approved by all three regions.
The budget increased (similar to the XRL), from HK$76.2 billion, but the government asked for additional funding which raised the budget to HK$ 117.7 billion.
A Tung Chung resident filed a judicial review citing environmental discrepancies on the project. Although she won the case, she lost an appeal, after giving up an opportunity to lodge a final appeal. The government lashed out saying that the legal hurdle cost the government HK$8.8 billion and nine months.
Meanwhile, the government cited increasing labor costs and construction costs, for the refinement of the bridge. Last year, in November, the government faced a HK$2.36 billion budget overrun and cited the above reason. However, the legal challenge together with the latest budget overrun doesn’t equate to an additional funding which lead to a cost of HK$ 117.7 billion. The break-even period (where all costs are covered and there’s no profit or loss) stood at 36.5 years before the construction. However, according to Zheng Tianxiang of the Sun Yat-sen University, the bridge will take up to 72 years to break even. Is the government utilizing revenues from Hong Kong properly?
The bridge has flaws in construction as well. In September 2015, the artificial island for Hong Kong boundary crossing facilities had moved up by 7 meters since 2014. In February 2017, the Highways Department was accused of hiding the fact that there were irregular movements of seawalls near the airport — for 2 years, despite denying the allegations. There were also reports of water seepage which caused a flooding in a basement generator room. In April 2018, the breakwater components were found to be disconnected from the structure of the bridge, but the bridge authorities rubbished it saying they had a “scientific basis” for the design. Veteran engineers have said that they offered no protection when there are high tides. What’s more, is that the construction has lead to the deaths of 19 workers and injured more than 600 people, although a government investigation over the incident has been completed, the Highways Department has yet to make it public. Why cover up the essential parts of the project, when the government claims it's for the people?
Falsified concrete compression tests which were submitted by engineers, using high-strength cubes to replace the original results. The ICAC charged 19 former laboratory staffs at Jacobs China Limited, a contractor of the Civil Engineering and Development Department, for their alleged roles in the issue, with a former site lab technician jailed for 8 months on December 2017 and two other technicians were jailed for 2 years and 3 years respectively, in July 2018. A computer on the project was hacked where the hackers demanded ransoms, locked files — but the government only admitted it two months later. They deleted some files once the police were notified. Is there a bigger controversy surrounding the mega-bridge project?
