HK, Guangdong agree on bridge construction, pollution control

A major breakthrough has been made in the discussion on the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge construction as Hong Kong and Guangdong agreed on Wednesday to have separate locations for boundary crossing facilities.

"The study on financing the bridge will continue," said Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Chief Executive Donald Tsang said who reached consensus with Guangdong Provincial Governor Huang Huahua during the ninth Plenary of the Hong Kong-Guangdong Cooperation Joint Conference, which ended Wednesday in Guangzhou, the province capital.

"Once the plans have been confirmed and the central government has given approval, construction will start immediately," Tsang said, adding that China Highway Planning and Design Institute will be commissioned to study options for the boundary facilities.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong and Guangdong reconfirmed their goal to achieve the agreed emission reduction targets by 2010 to improve regional air quality.

The joint conference has completed an implementation framework for the Emission Trading Pilot Scheme for Thermal Power Plants, which will be presented to participating power plants this year for them to identify trading partners and draw up emissions trading agreements.

Both sides will announce in October the first half-yearly report on the monitoring results of the Pearl River Delta Regional Air Quality Monitoring Network. They will also start a mid-term review of the PRD Regional Air Quality Management Plan by year's- end.

The review will assess the effectiveness of various emission reduction measures and the emission trends in the region, formulate strategies and enhance control measures to achieve emission targets by 2010.

Both sides also agreed to strengthen their cooperation on issues like aviation, diseases prevention and control and investment promotion.

Source: Xinhua