China's richest province Guangdong is looking forward to an upgrade to its regional economy in the form of a line bridge called the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Channel in between the east and west side of the Pearl River Estuary.
Due to the existing predicament of major regional transportation planning, the local government has listed this program as "key" since 2008 despite the complicated geographical conditions and the cautious on-going feasibility investigation.
Once channeled, the Pan Pearl River Delta would largely benefit by connecting the east side and west side as a whole, which would meet the huge transportation demand and serve to speed up regional economic integration.
Before this line bridge, another line called Humen Bridge was the only one spanning the two parts. However it is estimated that this will get overloaded based on the 10 percent increase in the number of vehicles passing every year. The newly-built Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge has a Y-shape design and cannot reach Shenzhen, which means it fails to meet the strategic transportation planning policy of connecting the two sides.
Shenzhen, the east terminal city, was one of the earliest coastal cities to become a testing site for the free market reforms of the 1980s. Together with and the west terminal in Zhongshan, these cities are two bases that are expected to drive the mutual advantages complementary between the east and west.
According to statistics, the GDP of Pan Pearl River Delta hit 3 trillion RMB, an increase of 9 percent in 2009, which is equivalent to a GDP of 10,000 U.S. dollars per person. The region's development has benefited from its proximity to Hong Kong s huge sum of investments.
By Li Yancheng, People's Daily Online
