China's bridge across economic waters

"We have made surveys of their numbers and habits and one of the results is the decision to build a curtain shielding the dolphins from the noise of construction."

Parts of the bridge structure will be prefabricated offsite allowing deck sections to be ready as soon as the underwater foundations are laid. This has the advantage of cutting down constructions times and minimising the impact on surrounding areas.

A non-dredging method of reclaiming land for the artificial islands and a major tree and shrub-planting project are other initiatives, which Chan says are aimed at reducing the effect on the local environment.

Much of the expertise for the project comes from the construction several years earlier of the bridge across Hangzhou Bay in Zhejiang which led to a number of technological innovations and breakthroughs, especially in building structures to survive typhoons and earthquakes.

The idea of a bridge linking Hong Kong and Macau is not new. It was first proposed in 1983 as a way of fostering ties between what were then the two European colonies and Mainland China. However the existing political situation militated against progress.

Now China's major economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission, hails the project as one of its major planks in a grand plan to merge Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong into one of the world's foremost economic centres by 2020.

While the bridge-tunnel link receives widespread support within the Hong Kong business community, some tourism operators expressed concern that visitors will be able to land at Chek Lap Kok and take the link to China without first passing through either Special Administrative Region.

Others believed that Hong Kong's outstanding shopping attractions will still lure tourists into the main shopping areas of Central and Kowloon.

"There are times when we can hardly cope with the influx of shoppers from the mainland. I think those who complain are just a little too greedy," one said.

While I could find no one in authority who would admit this, the bridge-tunnel link may also have political overtones. Hong Kong's restless democracy movement has been upping the ante in recent times, even to the point of demanding an autonomous city-state status.

One consequence of this project will be to bind the economic fortunes of Hong Kong and Macau ever closer to the motherland.

Whatever the eventual outcome, the opening of the bridge, just three years away, is certain to have a profound impact on the tens of millions of people who inhabit the lower reaches of the Pearl River.