this is the world's longest bridge and it's named as hong kong juhai and makaho bridge it's a
miracle in the world's engineering history and is regarded as a man-made marvel and one of the seven
wonders in the modern world this 55 kilometer long mega project is the world's longest sea
crossing bridge and a tunnel system and it links hong kong makawa and juhai cities together from
the beginning the construction of this bridge was a big deal many people were skeptical since it was
going to be built in an area with strong typhoons and sometimes earthquakes but it is designed to
withstand 8 magnitude earthquakes and category 5 typhoons for the construction it took about 420
000 tons of steel plate 330 000 tons of steel bars and 1 million tons of concrete not to mention two
artificial islands and one undersea tunnel for the perspective it can be used to build 60 eiffel
towers and eight burj khalifas and in terms of its length this bridge is 20 times the length
of the golden gate bridge in san francisco it is indeed a marvel of engineering and it's insane
even to think that we humans have the capability to build such colossal and incredible structures
but in terms of its use it has become the biggest construction waste in the history of the world
four years after the bridge was completed there is hardly any traffic on this bridge
so why then it was even built in the first place when the hong kong juhai makau bridge was about to
be opened to public the decision makers suddenly realized a big problem who will use this bridge
vehicles from mainland china cannot use it because mainland license plates cannot enter
or leave hong kong and macau similarly hong kong vehicles can't use it because hong kong license
plates can't go to mainland china and macau and macau vehicles can't use it because macau
license plates can go to mainland china and hong kong only vehicles that has three license plates
mainland china hong kong and macau can use it and such vehicles are very few in numbers and
those who need to go on the bridge are even more rare part of it is is one country two
systems mainland china hong kong and macau have separate everything including license registration
insurance and different bureaucracies in principle guangdong province and hong kong could negotiate
an agreement allowing for one registration as they share a huge border however this hasn't
happened and the site that is less willing is hong kong for both economic and environmental reasons
hong kong has very restrictive roles on owning an automobile and has very high import taxes on cars
hong kong also has restrictive auto standards like for example cars in guangdong could be both
left and right hand drive but cars in hong kong must be only right hand drive not to mention you
have to acquire a permit to cross the bridge and to get this permit there is a long paper process
and to get all those documents takes at least 12 business days even if you have the permit it
doesn't automatically guarantee an entry on the bridge because that permit will only be granted
to 150 cars a day and the applicants must be hong kong permanent residents have to prove they are
employed or have a firm in macau and vice versa if there are more than 150 applicants on any day
licenses will be distributed via a lottery even if you win the lottery you can't make it all the
way to macau you must leave your car before the entrance to the city and take a public taxi or a
bus so these restrictions render hong kong zhuhai and macau bridge even more useless is this bridge
one of the biggest money waste in history or the greatest chess move by the chinese government
hong kong juhai macau bridge is not completely useless because it will be the main catalyst
for integrating hong kong into china indeed from an economic perspective it's a loss and
it will never recover its expenses because it serves more symbolism than its use and it's
entirely possible that those restrictions will be completely abolished since the handover of hong
kong from the uk to china in 1997 currently hong kong is officially in transition period and this
transition period ends in 2047 but china is trying to speed up this process if we investigate this
map there are few convenient coincidences firstly let's look at the s3 expressway completed in 2007.
this expressway can be seen as a bloodline between guangzhou and shenzhen china's one of the biggest
and richest cities you might be wondering why the s3 expressway chose to terminate in a place that
is so close to the shenzhen bay bridge that leads to expressway tan in hong kong and now let's look
at the latest expressway built in hong kong it seems they are trying to construct an undersea
tunnel and connect to its international airport obviously this road is mainly for mainland people
who land in hong kong international airport but want to go to shenzhen directly the distance
between hong kong airport and shenzhen downtown is just 20 kilometers how about other similar
constructions happening in this area in the north there is the world's longest suspension bridge
called nancha it has been completed and it was opened to the public in 2019 the nuncha government
has promised a 75 personal income tax reduction if you settle there as a result the nunchuck district
of guangzhou has become one of the most popular regions for business and real estate development
it has the same distance about one hour drive between shenzhen dongguan guanzhou zhengchang
and zhuhai not just graduates from hong kong universities but many business people from the
us and uk who does business in china and with china also settled there this region is built
on a promise to become the next shenzhen of china because there is a huge port as well
if you don't know much about shenzhen well it's a silicon valley of china but on steroids because
raw materials are very cheap and assembly lines are ready for mass production in the middle of the
pearl river estuary there is another mega project that already started the shenzhen zhongshan bridge
and tunnel and the project has started in 2016 and it will be completed by 2024. the chinese
government is going to build another 24 kilometer long sea tunnels and bridges across the sea just
north of the current hong kong high makau bridge there are many other high-speed rail projects and
land developments around the bay area so you might be wondering what is the ccp going to do
ultimately if we sum up all the individual projects together let's look at the overall
picture well it's pretty clear with such a road and bridge network everyone can basically drive to
any city around the bay area conveniently this includes people from hong kong as well but
currently people from hong kong macau and mainland china complained that the hong kong macau bridge
is so useless because it takes two hours to go to macau after the long immigration and border
control and the bridge is just a vanity project but is it really a vanity project of course not as
much as i personally dislike the chinese communist party and its autocracy it's undoubtedly a very
good chess player they know perfectly well how to deal with hong kong and speed up the reunification
the most efficient way they use is to keep quiet and just do projects around hong kong
and devoured seamlessly with clean cut precision when the time comes and they are very patient
by the time in 2047 those constructions and mega projects are pretty much ready and the
ccp would announce that the borders of hong kong and macau would finally be lifted and immigration
and border control would be removed basically hardware is already there what you need is just
a software update china is laying the groundwork for hong kong's reunification once that happens
it really is just a quick software update and it's a part of mainland china and all those draconian
restrictions to pass the hong kong macaw bridge can be abolished in a matter of days as a result
common people in hong kong can migrate to the other side of the bay area and buy new homes at
just one-fifth of the house prices in hong kong this could reduce housing expenses in return
and the whole region can come to an equilibrium and finally hong kong shenzhen dongwan guangzhou
zhongshan juhai and macau can be merged into a giant mega city with around 60 million population
so for now hong kong zhuhai macaw bridge is completely useless but ultimately it's a tool to
make the integration seamless and more incentive to move freely to the people living in that region
so what do you think is this bridge a waste of money and a gimmick or a good chess move by the
chinese government let me know your thoughts in the comment section below thanks for watching if
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