Thursday, June 28, 2012

The real problem with Hong Kong/China integration

They drive on opposite sides of the road.  Cars from the mainland can't go to Hong Kong and cars from Hong Kong have to have special licenses to go to the mainland.

"While Hong Kong’s vehicles with steering wheels on the right side can travel (with the addition of expensive to obtain dual license plates) to the mainland, the reverse is not true. That is now impacting massively expensive projects such as the US$3 billion Hong Kong-Macau-Zhuhai Bridge, currently under construction, which is expected to transport 14,000 vehicles daily upon opening in 2016 to a capacity of 49,000 by 2035. It is being built to China’s right side standards, but the ends won’t match up either in Hong Kong or Macau, which is also left hand drive.
As things currently stand, those predictions over traffic volume are now being downgraded by 90 percent, leaving the bridge as a potential white elephant. Just 22,000 licenses have been granted in total to Hong Kong registered vehicles with right side steering wheels to travel to China."
--http://www.2point6billion.com/news/2010/07/28/hong-kong-faces-left-hand-drive-dilemma-6538.html

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