In the “one-hour city,” a whole new range of central business districts (CBDs) will be opened up to companies, and their employees will have nine cities-rather than just one-in which they might be able to live. This will encompass all nine cities in the delta along with what they called a three-hour economic sphere in the Greater Pearl River Delta. Greater connectivity will create a “one-hour living zone,” speakers said. In 2013, Zhuhai’s GDP was $27.3 billion in the same year, Shenzhen’s was $237 billion. However, Shenzhen was easier to access from Hong Kong than Zhuhai was, and Hong Kong was the source of most of the investment in the PRD. He points to the contrasting fortunes of Zhuhai and Shenzhen, both of which were sleepy delta towns with similar GDPs until they were granted Special Economic Zone status in 1980. “You can put a dollar value on connectivity,” says Enright. Improving the transport system so that it is efficient and affordable, while laying the groundwork for greater regional integration, are key parts of the government’s strategy for the future, he added. “Here’s a lesson for all fast-growing cities: there’s no need for compromise in order to strike the right balance between building a city that is healthy for people, for business, and for the environment,” Leung said. (At present, the travel time between the two cities is at least two hours by car or normal train service.) Similarly, the 100-mile-long (161 km) Express Rail Link, with its terminus in West Kowloon, will reduce the travel time between Hong Kong and Guangzhou to a mere 48 minutes when it is operational in 2015. Leung spoke about the city’s plans to integrate with the PRD through an ambitious infrastructure program, the highlight of which is a 31-mile (50 km) bridge and tunnel linking Hong Kong, Zhuhai, and Macau, which is expected to open in 2016. Hong Kong needs to change its way of thinking from being a gateway or springboard to China to being a fully integrated part of this megalopolis.”Ĭhina’s CRH fast train as it passes through the city of Zhuhai. Spending of nearly 2 trillion renminbi (RMB) (US$322 billion) on more than 150 major infrastructure improvements is forging a colossal network of transportation, water, energy supply, and telecommunication facilities.Īt the ULI summit, Sean Chiao, AECOM’s chief executive for buildings and places, said, “We can no longer think of the PRD with Hong Kong as the global gateway, but as an integrated megalopolis, with high-speed transport links bringing the cities together. The seeds of change were planted in 2008, when the Chinese government unleashed a plan to merge the PRD’s cities-consisting of Shenzhen, Dongguan, and Huizhou in the east Zhuhai, Zhongshan, and Jiangmen in the west and Guangzhou, Foshan, and Zhaoqing in the center-into a single megalopolis. By 2030, these 11 separate cities will be part of a single urban area with a population that could be as high as 80 million and a gross domestic product (GDP) of more than $2 trillion, according to Michael Enright, director of Enright, Scott & Associates, who spoke at the ULI Asia Pacific Summit, held in Hong Kong in May.
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