Development plan for Greater Bay Area to be unveiled

The Zhuhai section of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. [Photo by Zhong Fan/For China Daily]

The development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has basically been completed, He Lifeng, minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said during the two sessions, according to a report by China Securities Journal.

He said a number of major infrastructure projects beneficial to the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area have been on fast tracks.

The construction of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge has been completed and it already has the basic capacity for traffic, He introduced. And the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong High-speed Railway has been completed basically, with the section between Guangzhou and Shenzhen having been opened to traffic and the section between Shenzhen and Hong Kong receiving joint debugging and commissioning.

"Once the development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is unveiled, the timetable, roadmap and working drawing need to be further refined. According to the construction plan, the inter-connectivity of infrastructures will be the priority of the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area," Ma Xingrui, governor of South China's Guangdong province and deputy to the National People's Congress, said.

Guangdong will use its advantages to play a coordinating role and strengthen the cooperation mechanism and communication mechanism between Guangdong and Hong Kong and between Guangdong and Macao, Ma added.

Ma said there is also a plan of building world-class port and airport in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in the future.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was first written in Government Work Report last year. And in a Government Work Report delivered to the first session of the 13th National People's Congress on Mar 5, Premier Li Keqiang said the country will promote in all areas mutually beneficial cooperation between the mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao.

A challenging goal set for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is to grow into the world’s leading bay area to rival New York, Los Angeles-San Francisco and Tokyo, China Securities Journal reported.

Analysts said while finding solution for achieving inter-connectivity of infrastructure in the Greater Bay Area is easy, overcoming the institutional diversity between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macao will be a tough task, according to the report.

While the situation of "one country, two systems", "three customs" and "four core cities" is the biggest feature of the Greater Bay Area, it is also where the challenge and pain point are, the report said.

Pony Ma Huateng, chairman and CEO of Tencent, and a deputy to the 13th National People's Congress, suggested during the two sessions that a coordination and planning mechanism should be built in the area at a national level and more convenient policies should be launched to facilitate cross-boundary flow of talents and capital according to market rules.

"We should encourage the joint development of industries in the Greater Bay Area. Shenzhen and Guangzhou are leading in the innovative industry, Hong Kong is strong in finance industry and the other cities in the whole Pearl River Delta are competitive in intelligent manufacturing and high-end manufacturing. If they combine their strengths in software, hardware and service together, they will release great power," Ma said.