Survey and design work for the main part of a bridge to link Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macao began on Friday in Zhuhai, a coastal city in south China's Guangdong Province.

The coordinating group for preparatory work on the bridge also signed a contract with CCCC Highway Consultants Co. Ltd., leader of a five-member consortium, at an event on Friday to mark the start of work.

The other four consortium members are COWI A/S of Denmark, Ove Arup and Partners Hong Kong Ltd., CCCC First Harbor Consultants Co. Ltd. and the Shanghai Tunnel Engineering and Rail Transit Design and Research Institute.

The consortium won an international bid for the survey and design part of the project in December at a proposed cost of 209.9 million yuan (about US$30.87 million). The bid was approved by the State Council (cabinet), said Zhu Yongling, chief of the office of the coordinating group. He said construction was expected to begin late this year.

Premier Wen Jiabao gave a similar timeframe at a press conference on Friday in Beijing after the end of the annual session of the National People's Congress, the top legislative body.

The bridge project will include two ports in Hong Kong and Macao and two branch lines in Hong Kong and Zhuhai.

The entire project is estimated to cost 72.6 billion yuan. It will link Hong Kong, Macao and Zhuhai, which are separated by the Pearl River Estuary, and the west part of the Pearl River Delta, one of the most economically-developed areas of the Chinese mainland.

Currently, only ferries connect Zhuhai and Macao with Hong Kong.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2009)