The final megaproject featured in our series perfectly highlights both China’s ongoing
struggle to maintain its unprecedented growth, and the unbelievable ambition that’s fueling
its rise.
A constant challenge for most big cities is that there’s only so much land to build
on.
For Hong Kong and Shenzhen - two neighboring metropolises with a total population of nearly
20 million - the boundary it’s running into is water.
Specifically, the Pearl River Delta, which separates the uber-populated eastern corridor
from the far lesser populated cities of Macau and Zhuhai on its western shore.
Today, to get to Macau (Ma-Cow) after landing at Hong Kong International airport, you are
faced with either a four hour drive around the mouth of the delta, or a long ferry ride
through frequently rough waters.
But that’s about to change, thanks to a $17 billion six-lane, multi-part bridge that
will cut the trip down to a 45 minute drive.
It is an incredibly complex project, and includes cost and construction sharing agreements between
mainland China and its special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
Inspired by both the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel in the US and the Øresund Bridge that connects
Denmark and Sweden, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge will not only have to withstand typhoons,
but to avoid cutting off one of the world’s busiest shipping routes into Hong Kong and
its unusually deep natural harbor it will plunge underwater as a tunnel.
And at 28km, its longest stretch will be as if 15 Golden Gate bridges were lined up end-to-end-to-end-to-end.
And that’s not even the craziest part.
Because Shenzhen doesn’t want to be left out, it too will build a megabridge across
the delta just a few miles to the north.
Basically, the region is booming so fast, and competition to tap into the cheaper land
and labor available on the western side is so great, that Shenzhen and Hong Kong have
both committed to building multi-billion dollar megabridges, and will essentially race to
see who finishes theirs first.
As you can see from a close look at the map, cities with populations totaling more than
40 million people surrounding the delta, thus revealing the master plan: to lay the foundation
for China’s second megalopolis, an urban area that could eventually exceed 100 million
residents.
We started this video with Jing-Jin-Ji, and we’re ending it with what I’m calling
Hong-Guang-Zhong.
Two megalopolises, each serving as perfect bookends to our story of China, a country
that is counting on infrastructure megaprojects like those we’re profiled to serve as the
foundation for its rapid urbanization.
But how well it manages that urbanization will largely define whether it continues its
ambitious rise for the rest of the 21st century.
Thanks for watching.
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Until next time, for TDC, I’m Bryce Plank.