A delegation of 15 Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) members toured Zhuhai from Nov 21 to 23, reviewing how the city is benefiting from "black (mindboggling, scientific) technology" and how it can further become a leader in the Greater Bay Area high-rise construction industry.  

Their advice is to contribute to the continued prosperity of Zhuhai's healthy construction sector. Notably, the city completed fixed asset investment of 185.8 billion yuan ($26.4 billion) in 2018, a year-on-year increase of 20.7 percent, while the total output value of the construction industry reached 80 billion ($11.3 billion) yuan.

Moreover, Zhuhai has earned a great number of accolades for construction "firsts" in recent years. For example, the new Exhibition Hall of the Zhuhai Airshow Center recently garnered the 2018-2019 National High-Quality Engineering Award, the highest honor in quality of engineering construction and use of advanced technologies issued by the China Association of Construction Enterprise Management. 

The I, II, IV, and VI sections of the Zhuhai Port of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge have also been enlisted for the second group of the 2018-2019 China Construction Engineering Luban Prize (National Excellent Project), the top award in the country's building industry by the China Construction Industry Association. In 2017, the underground utility tunnel in urban Hengqin New Area became the first of its kind to win the Luban Prize.

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge [Photo provided to Zhuhai Daily]

The CAE delegation included Nie Jianguo, a civil engineering professor of Tsinghua University; Xiao Xuwen, chief expert of China State Construction Engineering Corp; Hu Chunhong, vice chairman of the China Institute of Water Resources & Hydropower Research; and Niu Xinqiang, chairman of the Changjiang Institute of Survey, Planning, Design & Research.

The top minds shared their insights on island development, marine projects, urban transport, and architectural technology. They first reviewed reports and conducted field trips to construction sites where new buildings utilize "black technology" in the Hengqin Free Trade Zone and at an immersed-tube prefabrication factory (that produced undersea tunnel sections for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge) on Niutou Island.

Advice was given on the local construction industry, as well as on establishing an academician working base of ocean and island exploitation in the Wanshan Marine Development Experimental Zone and another one for coastal city construction in the Zhuhai Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (Tangjiawan).

Furthermore, the academicians will provide the Zhuhai Construction Science & Technology Committee with continuing intellectual support regarding significant decisions and key construction.

The event was organized by the Zhuhai Housing & Urban-Rural Planning & Construction Bureau, Tsinghua and Chongqing universities, and Central Research Institute of Building & Construction of the MCC Group under the auspices of the CAE Division of Civil Engineering, Hydraulic & Architectural Engineering.