Massive GBA cross-sea passage all set for trial run

A view of the Huangmaohai Link at sunset in Guangdong province on Nov 28. The passage in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will be put into service on Wednesday. (LI JIANSHU/FOR CHINA DAILY)

Huangmaohai Link, a new major cross-sea passage project in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, officially begins trial operation at 3 pm on Wednesday.

The project is expected to further promote and accelerate the integrated and high-quality development of the GBA.

Huangmaohai Link starts in Zhuhai's Pingsha town and ends in Doushan town in Taishan city, which is under the administration of Jiangmen. It is 31 kilometers long, including a 14-km section above the sea.

The operation of the project takes vehicles only 30 minutes to reach Zhuhai, which borders the Macao Special Administrative Region from Jiangmen. The massive two-way and six-lane project will further strengthen the economic and trade ties between the two cities and promote the region's coordinated development.

The link is free during its trial operation.

Previously, vehicles took over an hour to complete the journey via the other expressways. Meanwhile, the project is the extension line of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. It will not only help boost infrastructural connectivity but also help strengthen economic and trade ties between core cities in GBA and the cities in the western part of Guangdong, including Zhanjiang, Maoming and Yangjiang and even Hainan province, authorities said.

Lam Wing-tsan, chairman of Guangdong Hop Hing Edible Oil Ltd, said the operation of Huangmaohai Link is beneficial for himself and his company operations.

Lam said peanuts purchased from the northern cities had to be first transported to Nansha port in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, before being transported to Taishan.

"After the service of Huangmaohai Link, the products from northern regions can be directly transported to Zhuhai Gaolan Port, which is closer to Taishan, before they are transported to the company. It significantly reduces production cost and transportation time," he said.

The Hong Kong business executive, whose company is wholly owned by Hong Kong Hop Hing Group, now frequently commutes between Hong Kong and Taishan.

Bu Hongjin is the deputy general manager of Taishan Lvsheng Food Co Ltd, a subsidiary of China Xulong Group headquartered in Cixi city of Zhejiang province. He said the opening of the Huangmaohai Link will make it more convenient for the company to transport its baked eel products to Hong Kong, Macao and the rest of the world from Taishan, the largest eel farming and production base in China.

The Huangmaohai Link, designed to allow a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour and a service life of 100 years, includes two bridges, two tunnels and a service area. Its Huangmaohai Bridge is the world's longest three-tower cable-stayed highway design bridge. The other bridge is the Gaolangang Bridge in Zhuhai.

Construction of the project started in June 2020. It is another mega cross-sea project in GBA, following the HZMB and the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link.

HZMB was open for traffic in 2018 and Shenzhen-Zhongshan Link started service earlier this year.

They have played an essential role in promoting integrated development in GBA and further advancing the economic ties between Guangdong and the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao.