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Underutilized HZMB finds it difficult bridging the gap

This undated photo shows the Zhuhai section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge in Guangdong province. (CHINA DAILY / ZHANG YOUQIONG)

The world’s longest sea crossing in southern China is set to celebrate its second anniversary on Oct. 24 with less than one tenth of the expected traffic flow.

The 55-kilometer Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), spanning the jurisdictions of Guangdong province and Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, opened on Oct 24, 2018. While an average daily vehicular flow of 3,494 and 4,167 was registered in 2018 and 2019, respectively, it plunged to fewer than 400 vehicles between April and July this year as per data from Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Authority, the bridge’s operator.

In 2008, when the Hong Kong government released a feasibility report for the bridge, it was estimated that, on the second year of its operation, at least 9,200 vehicles will be using the bridge on a daily basis.

Costly upkeep

The COVID-19 pandemic is not singularly responsible for the striking underutilization of HZMB. At the end of 2019, when the coronavirus had not yet reared its head, the bridge recorded an average daily traffic flow of around 4,000. This is less than half of its estimated minimum capacity, according to Hong Kong’s Transport Department.

At least HK$2.5 billion (US$322 million) is spent yearly to keep the bridge operational but roughly HK$3 million in revenue was generated from toll fee for the first seven months of this year, according to China Daily calculations. This can be attributed not only to a significantly depleted traffic flow but also a toll waiver applicable from late January to early May.

(China Daily)

As such, the Hong Kong government may have to funnel HK$1 billion into bridge maintenance this year, in line with the cost-sharing protocol agreed upon by the three local governments of Guangdong, HK and Macao SARs.

Becky Loo Pui-ying, director of the University of Hong Kong’s Institute of Transport Studies, said the bridge’s low traffic did not result from a lack of demand. In a response emailed to China Daily, she attributed it to stringent controls imposed by the three local governments.

(China Daily)

“In any case, we won’t expect a major piece of regional infrastructure, such as container ports, railway extensions and airports, to operate at their full capacity in the first two years,” she said.

Pointing out different customs regimes and the varying road transport network capacities of the three jurisdictions, Loo called for tripartite negotiations that could help “ensure a sensible and gradual increase” in vehicular traffic along the bridge.

Congestion concern

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor conceded that not many Hong Kong cars were heading north by way of the bridge these days. She pointed out that a single major expressway linked Hong Kong’s downtown areas to Lantau Island where both Hong Kong International Airport and an HZMB checkpoint are located.

(China Daily)

On the sidelines of a press conference Tuesday, Lam said her government was worried that if more local cars were granted access to the bridge, the only road to the airport - North Lantau Highway – would be easily congested.

“Our plan has always been that after the opening of the second expressway to Lantau Island - Tuen Mun–Chek Lap Kok Link - which I think can come into service at the end of this year, we can consider allowing more Hong Kong cars on the bridge,” Lam said.

“There are technical problems that remain to be solved, such as whether the driver should be a holder of driving licenses of all three jurisdictions, whether the automobile insurance should be valid in all three jurisdictions … We will try to hammer out these arrangements as early as possible.”

(China Daily)

She, however, also noted that it is not feasible to allow more vehicles from the Chinese mainland to enter Hong Kong through the bridge given Hong Kong’s limited urban space.

In a Sept 9 reply to Cally Kwong Mei-wan, a Hong Kong deputy to China’s top legislature National People’s Congress, the Guangdong provincial government said there were about 78,000 vehicles in the province and Hong Kong eligible to use HZMB, 90 percent of them Hong Kong cars.

As per Hong Kong government data, 15,000 Hong Kong private vehicles had permits to go to Zhuhai and another 800 private cars to Macao.

(China Daily)

A matter of quota

Ryan Ip Man-ki, head of land and housing research at policy think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation, told China Daily in text messages that the daily traffic flow along HZMB was likely to rise if the government increased the quota for private cars once the much-awaited Tuen Mun-Chek Lap Kok Link opened and eased the traffic pressure on North Lantau Highway.

The HZMB quota criteria has long been criticized as too stringent. Eligible applicants must be high-tech investors, top academicians, politicians and philanthropists.

In the long run, Ip said cargo truck flow is very important and thus developing integrated logistics nodes in strategic locations near HZMB, such as in Tuen Mun West and Lung Kwu Tan, would be an ideal solution.

(China Daily)

Stanley Chaing Chi-wai, chairman of Lok Ma Chau China-Hong Kong Freight Association, blamed the weak flow of goods vehicles on Macao’s poor customs infrastructure, a high eligibility threshold for a mainland automobile license and unreasonable two-way toll fees.

Speaking to China Daily over the phone, the logistics expert said that given the hurdles, many carriers chose to ship their goods by sea, while ordinary travelers, rather than driving private cars through the bridge, tended to use public transport such as ferry.

Contrasting HZMB with Shenzhen Bay Bridge, a free-of-charge sea crossing with border checkpoints linking Hong Kong with Shenzhen, Chaing suggested a blanket waiver of toll fees.

“For the Greater Bay Area’s long-term development, the governments should not be hung up on an old mindset of ‘cost-effectiveness’ because the bridge can bring in tremendous economic benefits, far outweighing it operational cost,” he said.

(Source: China Daily)

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