Page 13 - Sphere No.29 (Jun 2011)

high-end imported goods. Long gone will be the days of
polluting, resource heavy and labour intensive manufacturing
industries. Energy consumption per capita of gross domestic
product and environmental quality are slated to meet the most
advanced global standards within the next decade in a future
“green” Pearl River Delta.
“If you really want to understand the various plans for
the Pearl River Delta, all you have to do is look at the high
speed rail system,” observed Dr Victor Fung, Chairman of the
Greater Pearl River Delta Business Council in Hong Kong.
“Traditionally, people and goods in China moved along
rivers, east to west, from the coast to the inland. With the
Mainland’s expanding rail network, all that is changing. There
is greater connectivity between north and south as well as
east and west. Rail lines radiating from the Pearl River Delta
to southwest China will allow even closer economic integra-
tion between the two regions and between them and Southeast
Asia.”
Delivering on plans
According to the 2008 plan, by 2020, railway line construction
across the Pearl River Delta will top 2,200 km; the cargo
handling capacity of the ports, 1.4 billion tonnes; the container
handling capacity, 72 million twenty-foot equivalent units
(TEUs); and the capacity of the region’s airports, 150 million
passengers. A modernised, high grade waterway network will
span the region, while ports at Guangzhou, Shenzhen and
Zhuhai will be enhanced, consolidating the development of a
world-class cluster of ports with complementary, yet varied,
functions.
“While the targets may seem ambitious, it is worth remem-
bering that China has almost always succeeded in delivering
on major economic plans, especially its five-year plans,” said Dr
Fung.
Other key mega projects underway include the Guangzhou-
Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, Hong Kong-Zhuhai-
Macau Bridge, the Zhongshan-Shenzhen Passage, the Guizhou-
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