China starts building $20B cross-sea passages

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-10-16 13:46

Construction work for cross-sea passages over the Qiongzhou Strait is now underway, according to Gao Zongyu, general engineer at the China Zhongtie Major Bridge Reconnaissance & Design Institute Co Ltd (BRDI), chinanews.com.cn reported Thursday.

Gao, whose institute is in charge of the primary research work for the project, said the evaluation process for the project design has been completed. It is possible to build bridges over the Qiongzhou Strait, despite some obstacles, said Gao.

Gao also estimated a total of 142-billion-yuan ($20.8-billion) investment needed for this project and eight years for the construction to be complete.

Qiongzhou Strait has always limited traffic between Hainan Island, i.e. the Hainan province in South China, and the Chinese mainland and has thus directly limited Hainan’s economic development.

The passages aims to bridge the Leizhou Peninsular in Guangdong province and Hainan Island.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Ministry of Transport (MOT), the Ministry of Railways (MOR) and the Guangdong province have been investigating this project.

In 2008, the MOT, the MOR, Guangdong and Hainan conducted joint research and programming on this project, under the guidance of the National Development and Reform Commission, china's top economic planner.