After nine years of construction and an investment of more than HK$100 billion, the long-awaited Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge finally opened last month amid fanfare and some cynicism.

Just a couple of weeks after its opening, there was no shortage of complaints about travel chaos and long queues of passengers due to a lack of shuttle bus services.

Meanwhile, some have called the mega bridge an unnecessary "white elephant" because of the small number of commercial trucks using it.

Nonetheless, it's way too early to assess the economic value of the bridge based on the volume of commercial vehicles using it in the first two weeks. Furthermore, the western Pearl River Delta area to which the mega bridge links is not really a hub for Hong Kong factories, so we should not expect to see a huge number of commercial trucks plying the route.

The massive 55-km tunnel-cum-bridge is a long-term investment to bring the city closer to the west bank of the Pearl River Delta and put Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macao within a reasonable one-hour radius of each another. In other words, the three cities are now effectively on the doorstep of each other to share synergies and to make working, living and commuting more viable and convenient.

The super structure manifests China's long-term economic development strategy of using transport infrastructure to boost social and economic development, which can be pertinently summed up by the popular proverb: "Want to get rich? Build a road first."

The presence of an advanced transport infrastructure lays the solid foundation for wealth building, and this bridge that links the west bank of the PRD with Hong Kong will undoubtedly play a huge part in bolstering social and economic integration between the two regions.

Those detractors who criticize the bridge merely by judging the initial traffic flow are being far too short-sighted because it's still too early to form any solid judgment yet.

In the long run, the governments of the three cities expect the bridge to generate substantial economic benefits by boosting the integration of the entire PRD region.

Nonetheless, to achieve the social and economic goals, our government must do its best to optimize traffic flow and make it easier for private vehicles to cross the bridge. It would not be unfair to say the Hong Kong SAR Government is being way too cautious and conservative in restricting the number of vehicles, both private and commercial, from using the bridge.

The current restrictions must be one of the main factors behind the low patronage. As travelers who could have driven in their own vehicles are now forced to rely on buses, these restrictions must also be the reason behind the huge crowds waiting for buses at the terminus.

A friend of mine who has a dual license plate that allows him to use one of the pre-existent crossings into the mainland received a notification letter in early October informing him that his car would also be entitled to use the bridge without having to obtain an additional permit.

But just two weeks before the bridge opening, this automatic authorization was withdrawn. Suddenly, he was forced to apply for a special permit from Hong Kong's Transport Department instead.

This U-turn in policy further reduces the number of Hong Kong vehicles that would otherwise be enjoying the convenience of the bridge and compromises the original concept of facilitating a one-hour commuting radius for convenient living within the three cities.

All these have piled unnecessary pressure on the public transport services which would certainly be disastrous on long weekends and national holidays. We must not forget that some passengers are already complaining of having to wait for two hours for shuttle bus services during peak-hour travel on weekends. There's also the possibility of a demand for "pak pais" (unauthorized taxis) being generated.

The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has often been compared to the Greater Tokyo Area and the San Francisco Bay Area. But both the latter, obviously, allow convenient vehicular movements through and through.

If the original thinking was to create a bay area similar to these two successful ones, our government must get rid of all the risk-averse thinking and bureaucratic red tape and adopt a much valiant approach that's in line with a bold engineering vision. In other words, we need to act fast and be bold in removing as many restrictions on traffic flow as possible.

The first step is to allow private cars to drive through with minimal hassle. It would be a welcome step allowing private car passengers to stay in their vehicles for processing at immigration checkpoints. Besides, this would certainly avoid over-burdening human traffic into the immigration hall and tediously long processing times.

There's no doubt the HZMB will enhance our connectivity with the mainland and that is key to the Bay Area's ambitions. The project has now finally come to fruition after overcoming huge construction problems and environmental concerns. So, let's not put complex permit restrictions in its path.

(HK Edition 11/09/2018 page13)