The Zhuhai-Hong Kong-Macao Bridge has spent hundreds of billions on decorations to launch “Bridge Tourism” to generate income | Face-saving projects | Zhuhai City | Tourism | NTDTV

[New Tang Dynasty News, Beijing time, December 09, 2023]The Zhuhai-Hong Kong-Macao Bridge, a “face project” built by the Chinese Communist Party with more than 100 billion yuan, has always had sparse traffic. Against the background of the CCP’s financial constraints, Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province launched the “Zhuhai-Hong Kong-Macao Bridge Tourism”, which is suspected of “waste utilization”.

On Thursday (December 7), the public account of the unified information release platform of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge advertised, announcing that the “Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Tour Plan” will be launched for trial operation on December 15. Tourists can purchase tickets and start making reservations. The fare is 298 yuan (RMB, the same below) per person, and the ticket price during the discount period is 198 yuan per person.

Previously, the Zhuhai Bridge Management Department had organized multiple test drills on this plan. On Wednesday (6th), Zhuhai City organized relevant functional departments and business units to pass the acceptance inspection.

According to the official introduction, the “Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Tour” takes about 140 minutes. Mainland tourists need to hold their ID cards, and Hong Kong and Macao tourists need to hold a pass to and from the mainland, and then join a group tour of the bridge. The tour group takes a special tour bus from the Zhuhai Highway Port of the Bridge to visit Blue Dolphin Island. Since the itinerary belongs to the restricted port area between the three ports of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, tourists are required to cooperate with the management and are not allowed to cross the boundary lines of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Guangdong and Macao. They must complete the group, return to the designated tourism inspection hall at the Zhuhai port on time, and return to the original route on time. Leave after inspection to prevent someone from “taking the opportunity to sneak across”.

The Zhuhai-Hong Kong-Macao Bridge project began preparations in 2004, started construction in 2009, and was completed and opened to traffic in 2018. It is said that it cost a total of 126.9 billion yuan. The party media publicized how the bridge project was “massive” and the technology was “advanced” and how it would “significantly save the time it takes to open the three places” and “benefit the country and the people”. However, since its completion, traffic flow on the bridge has been sparse. The daily flow rate is mostly measured in “thousands of vehicles,” which is less than one-tenth of that of other domestic bridges. In other words, the average traffic flow per minute on this 55-kilometer-long bridge is single digits.

In the photos of the bridge published by the Chinese Communist Party’s official media, the several-kilometer-long bridge is often empty of cars, or only one car can be seen.

Although the CCP launched its cyber army to clear the ground, claiming that the Zhuhai-Hong Kong-Macao Bridge has “long-term goals” and “is a big game”, this superficial project has always been the target of ridicule by public opinion at home and abroad. Even mainland netizens called it a “fashion” and “face-saving project” and accused the authorities of “just showing off their infrastructure strength to the world.”

According to the summary of mainland self-media, many mainland car owners actually want to go on the bridge to experience this so-called “super project”, but they are “not qualified.”

First of all, driving to Hong Kong and Macau requires a Hong Kong and Macau Permit. Secondly, the car license plates in Hong Kong and Mainland China are not universal, so you need to apply for license plates from both places. Thirdly, Hong Kong’s traffic rules are different from those in the mainland. In particular, Hong Kong vehicles drive on the right side, while in the mainland they drive on the left. It is difficult for mainland vehicles to drive into Hong Kong.

In addition, according to the regulations of the authorities, if a company in Guangdong wants to apply for a Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge license plate to drive in Hong Kong, it needs to pay a cumulative tax of 1 million yuan in three years, etc.

Netizens ridiculed that this unrealistic “huge project” was made by a leader who “made a slap on the head”.

(Comprehensive reporting by reporter Zhou Guihang/Editor in charge: Lin Qing)