World’s longest bridge – Hong Kong-Zhuhai- Macau Bridge (HKZMB)

China kickstarted the construction of the world’s longest cross-sea bridge on December 13, 2011, in an effort to link its southern economic hub of Guangdong province to Hong Kong and Macau.  Hong Kong began the construction of its part on December 14, linking itself with Macau and Zhuhai. The project finally started, after being delayed for a year due to legal challenges on its environmental consequences. Concern was raised among environmental groups as construction of the bridge will coincide with the natural habitats of the endangered white dolphins. There are about 2,000 white dolphins remaining in China, and more than half of these dwell in the Pearl River estuary. To protect them, a 180 square miles territory had been designated for the white dolphins and builders are restricted them polluting the waters.

The Y-shaped Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HKZMB) will have a total length of around 50km, of which around 35 km will be built over the sea, allowing it to hold the record of being the world’s longest cross-sea bridge. It is estimated to incur US$11.5 billion of construction expenditure and set to be completed in 2016. The construction cost would be shared between the authorities of the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macau. HKZMB had been described as the most technically complicated landmark projects in China’s transport history. The bridge comprises a tunnel section that travels underwater and constitutes a six-lane expressway that can withstand the impact of a 8.0-magnitude earthquake and possesses the ability to survive being rammed by a large vessel weighing 300,000 tons and withstand slamming winds up to a speed of 51 m/s.  

A 150-hectares artificial island would be constructed in the waters northeast of Hong Kong to accommodate the boundary crossing amenities. Reclamation efforts to create the artificial islands in Macau and Zhuhai constitute the first phase of construction.

Upon completion, it would take about half an hour to travel from Zhuhai or Macau on the west bank of the Pearl River to Hong Kong on the east bank, as compared to the current three hours. HKZMB will cut travelling time significantly by 60 to 80 per cent, accelerating the delivery of goods and travelling time of people. Hong Kong investors will concomitantly enjoy substantial business opportunities in the western Pearl River Delta, which houses plenty of land and human resources.

In the long term, HKZMB will function as a critical transportation link between Hong Kong and the Mainland, driving Hong Kong’s long term economic development. Furthermore, it opens windows of new opportunities for Hong Kong’s key industries such as tourism, finance, trade, commerce and logistics. In order to boost the economic benefits of the HKZMB project, toll charges would be kept as low as possible to promote usage of the bridge among the people. Besides construction efforts, around 50 million yuan had been allotted for landscaping activities, such as the inclusion of sightseeing spots for tourists to appreciate the spectacular view of the South China Sea and white dolphins that cruised by.

 

References:

• Ming Pao (April 21, 2010). ‘Benefits of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge and Accessibility to the Mainland Market’.
• http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsworld.php?id=634230
• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-12/16/content_9184465.htm
• http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2009-12/15/content_9181502.htm
• http://www.theoutletco.com/pdf/HKRA_1.pdf
• http://www.asianinfrastructure.com/news/newschinas-30-mile-bridge/

Poverty and Starvation

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set by the United Nations (UN)  has effectively reduced a significant number of people who face poverty, such that there is a drop in the number of people living in Asia on less than US$1.25 a day from 1.5 billion in 1990 to 947 million in 2005. MDG was established in 2000 to meet goals such as halving the cohort of people living in abject poverty, reducing two-thirds of the child mortality rates and increasing the accessibility of Internet facilities.=MDG represents a compact between all the world’s major economic players where poorer nations seeks to improve policies and governance while affluent nations would provide the resources.

 

              

     The Millennium Development Goals (MDG)

On the contrary, the number of people who are confronted with issues of poverty and hunger as the Asian region houses two-third of the world’s poor and hungry, seeing 1 in 6 people being malnourished and Asia did not perform well in the reduction of child mortality and improving maternal health. The failure of reducing hunger, reducing poverty and alleviating poverty conditions among women led to a worrying trend and drew the concern and attention of world leaders. With these problems in light, many have cast doubts over achieving the targets set by MDG in 2015.

Access to education among children has been identified as the crucial factor in allowing the people to break out of the circle of poverty. The broader objective of MDG is to enable all children to be able to attend primary schooling and eliminate the presence of gender inequality in all levels of education. It is estimated that there are 69 million children who are out of school around the world. Children in the African  continent are the worst hit and it is estimated that around US$4.6 billion would be lost annually from education budgets in the sub-Saharan Africa region due to the footprints of the global financial crisis. This is of grave concern as accessibility to good quality education is the key to other positive impacts such as improved health and social welfare, economic growth and development. With this, the World Bank has pledged another US$750 million in grants over the next five years to countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia which are lagging behind the education goal. European leaders have also offered €1 billion at the MDG summit in New York to offer more help to allow the developing nations to alleviate poverty conditions. However, with the developed nations facing problems of deficit in their economies, there is an urgent need to source for alternative sources of financing to improve education and poverty in the developing world. It has been estimated that around US$120 billion has to be pooled over the next five years so as to achieve the goals of MDG.

 

References:

• The Straits Times (September 22, 2010). ‘Less poverty in Asia but millions still starve’.
• http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/
• http://www.endpoverty2015.org/en/goals

Influence of Development on Coping with Natural Disasters

Pakistan had been affected by floods in late July 2010 where nearly 3 weeks of prodigious rainfall brought by monsoon winds inundated one-fifth of the nation.  Flood waters spread and affected 160,000 square kilometres and only began receding in late August 2010. This disrupted the lives of more than 20 million people out of its 175 million population.  This is the worst flood in Pakistan’s history where its people live in abject poverty. Assessment of the damage brought by the floods is revealed to be greater than the combined effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 2005 Pakistan earthquake and Haitian earthquake.

 Damage and loss in the 2010 Pakistan floods

The Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) is offering Pakistan US$2 billion for rebuilding efforts within Pakistan.The World Bank also promised to extend a loan of US$900 million to facilitate its reconstruction initiatives given the intense situation where more than 4 million Pakistanis are left homeless and 8 million are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. The funds are also crucial in the rebuilding of roads, bridges, power lines, housing, medical and sanitation facilities. The assessment of ADB revealed that more than 2.500 schools, 175 health centres and 1,000 water supply facilities are damaged. It is an imperative to provide food, clean water and basic shelter for the victims but few receive help due to the financial restraints of Pakistan, poverty among the people and the paucity of international goodwill. The economy is further impaired with the damage that the floodwaters had brought to the agricultural industry, which killed livestock and inundated croplands.

With limitations in its financial capacity, Pakistanis face  problems such as absence of sanitation and clean water supplies, overcrowded living conditions and the proliferation of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea and malaria even after the receding of floodwaters. Despite the aid and loan offered by nations and international organisations, Pakistan would require a long period to recover from the ill effects of the floods.

 

References:

• The Straits Times. (August 20, 2010). ADB pledges $2.7b to rebuild nation
• http://www.criticalthreats.org/pakistan/floods-pakistan-maps-graphs-and-key- data-august-23-2010#districts
• http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/10/13/pakistan-flood-estimate-103.html