Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai

Zhuhai will be able to go further on the path of innovative development once making full use of capital, investment and talent flows across the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB), Zhuhai Daily reports on Oct 22.

The comment was made the day before the opening ceremony for the longest sea crossing bridge in the world.

The 55-km bridge spanning the Pearl River Estuary consists of roads, tunnels,  islands and linking roads in three cities. It is expected to boost the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area by energizing the regional economy and integrating cities from both sides of the estuary into one dynamic community.

The bridge is scheduled to open to traffic on Oct 24.

Zhuhai is now the only city in the Chinese mainland connected to Hong Kong and Macao by land. Zhuhai has already anticipated its development advantages and formed a favorable business climate, said He Jun, head of the Zhuhai Science, Technology, Industry & Information Technology Bureau.

The city's improved innovative industrial system has contributed to high-tech industrial clusters involving pillars of electronic information, biomedicine, medical equipment and new materials. Zhuhai hosts 1,478 national high- and new-tech enterprises according to last year's statistics.

Those enterprises generate 59 percent of the city’s total industrial output value, the third highest proportion in Guangdong Province.

Companies such as Gree Electric Appliances, China Aviation Industry General Aircraft, and Zhuhai Orbita Control Engineering are the major intellectual forces behind the bourgeoning development.

Artificial intelligence, big data, Internet of things, life science and intelligent manufacturing and other emerging industries have gained an edge in Zhuhai thanks to the city's favorable business climate, preferential policies, and improved infrastructure.

"With the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, there are so many possibilities for Zhuhai to have a splendid future," said Xiong Xiaoge, a partner of IDG, a world-class investment institution.

According to plans, Zhuhai will deepen cooperation with Hong Kong and Macao in science and technology industries. A bridge economic zone will be promoted through the construction of the Guangdong-Macao Cooperative Industrial Park and the Zhuhai-Hong Kong-Macao Sci-tech Industry Incubator.

The idea of "science and technology are primary productive forces" highlighted in a parterre on Gangwan Avenue in the Zhuhai National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone.

AG600, the world's largest amphibious plane is assembled in Zhuhai and took its first flight in December last year.

Gree, the largest air conditioner supplier in the world, displays its latest products at the Canton Fair being held in Guangzhou. [Photos by Zhong Fan / Zhuhai Daily]