It ’s difficult to deny that although raft of countries could arrogate technological high quality , the speed and scale that China builds is impossible not to wonder at , from its ability toraise islandsfrom the seafloor in a matter of calendar week to its appearing of megacities , waiting to be populated .
China also happens to have been working on the earth ’s longest grouchy - sea bridge . It ’s been indevelopmentfor seven years , but this year – after originally beingset to openin 2016 – it ’ll in the end be unveil to the world . According toAl Jazeera , it ’s 55 kilometers ( 34 miles ) long , and will link up Hong Kong , Macau , and mainland China ’s Guangdong state .
As a compass point of ( perhaps unfair ) comparability , this megaproject is some 20 times longer than the Golden Gate Bridge .
It ’s reportedly retrace using more steel than 60 Eiffel Towers . have three part of bridgework and an undersea burrow , it also want the construction of four artificial island . The main section of the so - called Hong Kong - Zhuhai - Macau Bridge ( HZMB ) was completed back in 2017 , but additional workplace was need before this year ’s marvelous opening .
According to the official HZMBwebsite , it ’s designed to operate for 120 years . Typhoon resistance , weewee stream , and “ eminent environmental standards ” are said to have all been ingest into account .
Some undertaking are too stupendous to be grow by a single nation alone , and even the world ’s ( arguably ) rising second power ca n’t shy away from this progressively globalized world . By all accounts , it ’s a vast outside endeavour : experts from the UK , America , Japan , and at least 11 other countries are involved in the construction process to some degree .
Although the opening escort has yet to be reassert , foreign media has been invited to take a flavour at the crossing this very week . The thought is that the bridge will dramatically cut travel time between the provinces , which may be find as a boon to the country – but the “ one country , two systems ” idiosyncrasy of Hong Kong and Macau ’s situation has reportedly cause some anxiousness .
As mark by theHong Kong Free Press , some are concerned that the nosepiece is an inexplicit way for the Chinese state to derive more direct control over semi - autonomous Hong Kong . There have also been accusation ofcorruptionand accounts of thedeathof a construction worker during the making of the tremendous bridge . In total , the project is estimated to have be a whopping $ 15.1 billion , which some havecriticizedas being usuriously expensive .
Incidentally , in case you were wondering , the longest bridge deck of any case is also encounter in China . TheDanyang - Kunshan Grand Bridge , part of the Beijing - Shanghai High - Speed Railway , is 165 kilometers ( about 102 mile ) long .
