The Shizimen Tunnel connecting both parts of the Central Business District between the Zhuhai International Convention & Exhibition Center and Hengqin Island is to open to traffic by 2023 despite delays inflicted by the COVID-19 outbreak.

The north-south tunnel under the Maliuzhou Waterway is being constructed by nearly 300 workers working around the clock. Huafa Group commenced construction in October 2018. Then, the workers went on Spring Festival holiday but, due to the epidemic, were prohibited from returning until Feb 25 instead of Feb 1.

Workers at Shizimen Tunnel site [Photo by Li Lianshu / Zhuhai Daily]

To get back on schedule, Huafa Group contracted chartered buses, compensated for transport fees, and raised salaries. As of March 14, there were 240 workers on duty, 105 percent more than before Spring Festival. It is expected that the number of on-site workers will reach 400 by October.

Meanwhile, the general contractor has added 65 pieces of equipment including telescopic booms and heavy crawler cranes at the construction site. Excavators capable of digging trenches 40 m (44 yd) deep will soon be put to use. The S-shaped infrastructure is 1,905 m (2,083 yd) long on one side and 2,657 m (2,906 yd) long on the other.

Currently, the project team is digging a foundation pit for a shaft where the tunnel-borer will be used, which will be key to the underwater shield construction set for October. The team has already dug to the 6th floor of the seven-floor foundation pit, which is 35 m (38 yd) deep.

The team faces challenges in the use of a tunnel-boring machine with a diameter of 15.7 m (17.2 yd), the largest ever used in South China for construction that spans different sea areas, let alone compound strata and sensitive apparatus such as Macao-bound water supply pipelines.

The tunnel is designed to alleviate traffic pressure on the Hengqin Bridge to the west and help balance development on both parts of the CBD. It is also considered to be essential to the integration of Hengqin, Hongwan, Zhuhai Free Trade Zone, Wanzai, and Shizimen as a new urban center and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Economic Zone.

As of now, all 151 Huafa projects in Zhuhai have are back under construction. The group realized a year-on-year increase of 89 percent in regional fixed-asset investment and growth of more than 10 percent in major business indicators in the first quarter by reserving labor and materials in advance, systematically arranging construction periods, and improving production and operational efficiency.