World’s longest sea bridge, Hong Kong Zhuhai bridge, opens in China

World’s longest sea crossing bridge was inaugurated recently by Chinese President Xi Jinping. It will be made accessible to the public from Wednesday onward. The construction work of the bridge got kick-started nine years back, but safety concerns kept delaying the completion of this project.
Reportedly, the bridge is as long as 55 km including its connected roads, and it links Hong Kong to Macau and the mainland city of Zhuhai. The Chinese Government has spent a whopping $20 billion to build the bridge.

According to the news reports, this bridge is special due to the fact that it is safe from natural disasters like earthquakes, typhoons etc. About 4, 00,000 tonnes of steel has gone into the making of this bridge, which is equivalent to building 60 Eiffel Towers!

This much-talked-about bridge has been constructed to make a Greater Bay Area, comprising Macau, Hong Kong and other nine cities in southern China. About 68 million people are living in this region, and travelling to and from Zhuhai and Hong Kong used to be a four hour long journey before the bridge was built. Henceforth, the bridge will now cut down the travel time to only 30 min!

However, reportedly, travelling across the bridge would require special approvals depending on a quota system. And yes, every vehicle is liable to pay a toll for using the costly bridge. Only private shuttle buses will be allowed to drive through the bridge.

Although the critics have called this bridge a “bag white elephant” that assures no monetary return, we have to wait and watch whether it turns into a touristy site in future.