Experts from relevant departments of the Chinese mainland have been discussing details with their counterparts from Hong Kong on constructing a second expressway connecting south China's Guangdong Province to Hong Kong.

It has been calculated that the new expressway would alleviate the transportation pressure between Hong Kong and Guangdong and facilitate the movement of people and exchange of cargo.

Presently, Guangdong Province and Hong Kong are connected mainly by the Guangzhou-Shenzhen expressway and the 107 National Highway. However, they are already overburdened by 50,000 and 70, 000 cars and vehicles, respectively, daily.

The rising flow and inflow of personnel and cargo between the two places in the wake of China's campaign to explore the vast west has made construction of a new expressway an urgent task.

An official from the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Communications said that the new expressway will start from Guangzhou, the provincial capital, follow the banks of the Pearl River, and end at Hong Kong after traversing near Shenzhen Airport and Shekou, both in Guangdong Province.

The official added that the time for starting construction of the expressway is not yet set as negotiations about the new expressway are still being carried out.

In another development, the Lingding Bridge, designed to link up Hong Kong, Macao and the Chinese mainland, is also under discussion. The project has obtained approval from the State Development Planning Commission.

(Xinhua 07/04/2001)