TEC, a joint venture between the three Dutch engineering firms of DHV, Royal Haskoning and Witteveen+Bos, has won a contract to provide all the design checking, tendering and contracting services for the Hong Kong Zhuhai Macau link project. DHV’s office in Shanghai will play a vital role in this project as the local support team.
The development of transportation links between the major cities in China play a crucial role in China’s rapidly growing economy. This project involves the huge channel crossing of the Ling Ding Yang waters in the Pearl River Estuary, which connects the Hong Kong Special Administrative Zone, the Macau Special Administrative Zone and Zhuhai in the province of Guangdong.
To improve this situation the Hong Kong - Macau Bridge Crossing Lingding Sea project was proposed in the mid 1990s and approved by the then-state-planning-commission in 1997. Due to a number of constraints, the project has not yet been implemented. In the beginning of the 21st century, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge project re-surfaced with the support of the central government, the Gunagdong provincial government, the HKSAR and MSAR governments.
The project scope includes: HZMB Main Bridge, Hong Kong Boundary Crossing Facilities (BCF), Zhuhai BCF, Macao BCF, Hong Kong Link Road and Zhuhai Link Road.
The project includes construction and implementation of:
- a 29.6km dual three-lane carriageway in the form of bridge-cum-tunnel structure comprising a immersed tunnel of about 6.7km (This will be the longest immersed tunnel of the world)
- two artificial islands for the tunnel landings west of the HKSAR administration boundary
- associated civil and structural works, environmental mitigations, drainage works, electrical and mechanical installations, traffic control and surveillance systems, etc.
DHV BV was assigned for HZMB Consultancy works in the following stages:
- Stage 1, review and advice for the preliminary design and tendering phases (June 2009 – Feb. 2010)
- Stage 2.1, review and advice for the detailed design (March 2010 to Feb. 2011)
- Stage 2.2, review and advice for the project construction (5 years duration from the beginning of 2010)
The building of this tunnel is a great challenge for the designers. The design must be cost efficient yet be able to withstand particular natural conditions, including typhoons and earthquakes.